Of Bandits and Assassins
by LeafxGreenx3
Summary: Bandits and assassins were the worst of enemies. They both looked down on each others' jobs despite both being a thief class job. So when four of the best assassins and bandits are sent on a mission to kill each other and steal their respective orbs, what's going to happen? CS, PS, IS, ORS. T just in case.
1. Prologue

**If you haven't noticed, there is no main couple I'm going to focus on. I'm planning on giving each and every couple equal spotlight…and because I don't know which two to base it on. Yeah, I'm so lame.**

**Anyway, let's get started!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way.**

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><p><strong>Of Bandits and Assassins<strong>

_**Prologue**_

For years assassins and bandits had been the worst of enemies, despite of them both in the thief class. They'd often clash when they ran into each other and wouldn't stop until one of them was dead. That was the second rule to both classes.

They were good friends at one point though. What broke the friendship was when the bandits were accused of stealing the assassins' most valuable claw, a type of claw that stored unlimited amounts of throwing stars. The bandits denied everything though, stating they did not steal a thing. This infuriated the assassins even more, causing them to start a war. Many were killed and when they couldn't take it any longer, the head of both classes made a treaty that they were to live on separate parts of the region. Bandits got the east side of Hoenn while assassins got the west side. Of course, this treaty only applied to the two jobs. Other regular trainers were able to travel freely through either side.

Since then, everything was calm. There were no more war, both parties were at peace, but they were still enemies. Assassins would murder the best bandits. Bandits would retort with stealing something precious to the assassins. That was the pattern. They didn't just do that though, but both classes still had good intentions. They still helped the Hoenn region when something was wrong. Of course, this still didn't change the fact that they were still enemies.

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><p>It was one in the morning and Lilycove City was having one of its darkest and eerie nights. In the tallest building of the city, four teens were walking down the hallway as quietly has they could, making sure they wouldn't wake anyone up.<p>

"So why do you think she wants to see us so badly?" a girl with midnight blue hair asked as she walked in between two brunettes.

One of the brunettes with waist length hair shrugged. "Who knows why Lucy wants to see us at this time." She yawned silently. "I mean, it wouldn't have waited till the morning?"

The other brunette nodded in agreement before yawning as well. "Hey, I want some food too," she said to a raven haired male. While the girls were tired, he was happily munching off a box of cookies.

He couldn't say anything as she already swiped it from his hands. When he was about to protest about it, they had reached the office belonging to their master, Lucy. The girl with blue hair knocked and when the four heard her permission to enter, they did as they were told.

Inside had a long sleek brown table that took up about one-fourth of the room with chairs placed neatly around it with a large balcony, which had a perfect view of the city, behind it. Sitting at the head of the table was their leader, Lucy. The woman's usual long hair that reached her fingertips was tied up to a ponytail with some shorter hair that framed her face, her two red highlights visible. She also had her Seviper out next to her.

"I'm glad you four were able to make it." Her sharp ruby eyes shifted to the food the brunette was holding. "Sapphire, no food allowed in the office."

The brunette hid the food quickly behind her back and smiled sheepishly at her master. "Sorry Lucy."

"So what did you need us for," the raven haired boy inquired as he suppressed a yawn.

Lucy grabbed four manila folders that were lying next to her and tossed them across to the table, where the four teens stood. "To answer Raven's question, I need you four to steal the Red Orb that's at the west side of Hoenn with the assassins."

"But why?" the brunette with waist length hair asked as she opened one of the files with her three teammates.

The older woman sighed. "I've been informed today that they were planning on awakening the legendary Groudon. We cannot let that happen as it will hurt people of Hoenn. Does that help, Emerald?"

She nodded. Then the blunette brought up one of the folders. "But why are you showing us these pictures?"

"Those, Platinum, are the four best assassins. They've never failed a mission and I've done some investigation on them. They were ordered to guard the Red Orb so they'll destroy anyone who has intentions of stealing it. Your mission is to kill these assassins and get the Red Orb," she informed.

"But killing isn't our job," Emerald stated. "All we do is stealing."

"Correction, stealing is our _main _job. We kill too; why do you think every bandit is assigned a dagger? Now back to the subject. You four are to pick one person to go after. They are all your choice to choose so I'll let you guys decide on that. You are all scheduled to leave in three days so I want you four to train well. You guys may be the best of the bandits and although I hate to admit it, they are something else so I advise you four to pick your best team. Understood?"

The four nodded simultaneously and were about to head back to their barracks when Lucy added something else. "Oh, and remember the number one rule. Do _not _fall in love with any of them."

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><p>Devon Corporation was just a disguise name for the assassins' hideout to prevent any suspicions. Due to different time zones, it was about ten at night and four assassins were just leaving their night training class. "That was such a stupid lesson," a green haired male complained. "They taught it as if we were idiots. You guys have no idea how badly I wanted to throw a star at him just to shut him up."<p>

The other three narrowed their eyes at him. "Shut up," a girl said. "Do you want the people here to hear you say that?"

The green haired teen looked around him. Pedestrians were walking around without a care in the world while trainers were walking around to find the Pokémon Center. He shrugged. "Well they didn't hear me, did they?"

"We don't want to take any chances though," a boy with stony black eyes stated. "So I suggest you shut it right now or I'll have Gastrodon Ice beam that big mouth of yours shut."

With fear of what he would do, the green haired teen simply shut up while his friend –a teen with auburn spiky hair- laughed hysterically. When he was going to say something to shut up his friend, all of their earpiece went off and they instinctually reached for it to hear the message that was going through it. When they all heard the message, they looked confusingly at each other.

"Why would Steven want to see us right now?" the girl wondered aloud.

They all shrugged. "It's probably him assigning us another mission," the auburn haired teen said, his green eyes gleaming of excitement. "Oh the joys of killing those helpless bandits."

The three ignored his mindless comments on bandits and made their way to Devon Corporation with their friend trailing closely behind them. When they arrived at the tall building, they entered and showed their passes to the security guards who stood at the door of the hallway that reached Steven's office.

When they were given the permission to go in, one of the secretaries led them to Steven's office and knocked to inform the man that his top assassins had arrived. He ordered them to enter and they obliged, shutting the door behind them.

"Do you know why I called for you guys?" he asked.

The green haired male smirked and flicked his hair. "Another mission?" he guessed.

He nodded. "Correct, Forest," he praised. He then proceeded to turn on a projector that was connected to his laptop and opened up a PowerPoint presentation for them. "Even though it sickens me to say it, these four are the top best bandits out there. They've trained since they were at least five. Do not underestimate their power," he warned. He moved on to the next slide that had a picture of a girl with shoulder length brunette hair. "This is May Maple, going by the name Sapphire. There is more information on her and her other teammates in the folders." He went to the next slide, showing the boy. "Ash Ketchum, going by Raven." Next slide. "Her name is Dawn Berlitz, otherwise known as Platinum." And the last slide. "And Leaf Green, aka, Emerald."

"They don't that tough," the guy with stony eyes commented.

Steven diverted his attention to him and narrowed his eyes. "Like I said, do not underestimate them. Looks can be deceiving, Shadow."

When the orange haired girl saw that he was going to retort something back, she cut in. "So are we just supposed to kill them?"

"No, Aqua. You four are to kill them as well as to take the Blue Orb. Rumors have it, they're going to awaken the legendary Kyogre and we cannot have the people of Hoenn get hurt." He saw one of their hands raised. "Yes, Auburn?" he sighed.

"I thought we were supposed to be guarding the orb," he reminded. "How are we going to do that?"

"I've already got our second best team to do it. You four are to leave for this mission in four days, understand? During the passing three days, I want you guys to train and put together your best team. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," they said in unison.

Steven smirked. "Good, then take these folders and decide on your targets." Aqua grabbed the folders and the four made their way to the door until Steven's voice made them halt. "And one more thing: don't forget the number one rule. Do _not _fall in love with any of them."

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><p><strong>So that's it for now. I will try to update Remember the Past next week since I'll have another three day weekend (yay for Washington's Birthday) so look forward to that one being updated.<strong>

**So yeah, like you guessed, this is another one of those cliché assassin stories so I'm soooooo sorry if it wasn't something you guys were anticipating for. I have changed it a bit sooo I hope it's good enough.**

**Review guys! I would love to know how I did and I would love to hear on your feedback for this story. I want to know if you guys really do like it. If you don't, then I'll probably delete it and you'll never hear from it again. So review and I shall go watch some good old weekly Bleach. Byee.**


	2. And So, Training Begins

**First and probably only update since my spring break, oh my god, I'm so sorry guys. It's just that my friend suggested this anime for me to watch and it took me four days to finish it (would've been three if it wasn't for my dental appointment) along with having to finish my untouched spring break homework. Sigh, life is treating me pretty badly right now. Oh wells, guess I just have to suck it up and deal with it. But yeah, it was a very good anime that I saw (: Whoever that follows me on tumblr should know since I made a post on it :3**

**Oh, and thank you all for your feedback on how I did. I honestly thought that a lot of your would prefer it to be girls against guys but I'm glad many of you like it this way. For the people who prefers it girls against guys, then I'm sorry it's not to your liking and you probably wouldn't like some other things I'm gonna do in this chapter. Sorry if you guys won't like what happens in this, but I just don't want the story to end up like those cliché ones, you know?**

**Anyway, I've finally got my lazy butt to work on the first chapter of this story and I'm hoping you will all enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything! I just own the plot (:**

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><p><em><strong>Chapter One: And So, Training Begins<strong>_

"Paul Shinji, otherwise known as Shadow, from Veilstone, Sinnoh," Platinum named off from the folder that was in her hands. "Wow, he scowls with photos too. Was he born with that scowl?"

It was ten in the morning and the team had gathered in Emerald's room since she had the folders containing information about their targets. They had planned to choose their targets, then to train with their best weapons, and lastly, choose their best Pokémon team.

Her face scrunched up as she read more about Paul. "He doesn't even like to do anything but train and battle, what a bore." She looked underneath that information. "And he hates everything. Is this guy even human? Who hates everything?"

The other three stifled their laughs. "What does it say about his personality and the way he fights, Dawn?" Emerald inquired using Platinum's actual name. She figured that since no one else was around; why not just call the team by their actual names.

The bluenette flipped through some papers before finding her desired information. "Well, Leaf, there's not much to say about his personality other than the fact that he doesn't like anything and he's quite a stoic person. Hmm, it also says that he doesn't like to talk at all and would only talk if he needs to. Fighting and battling-wise though, he's pretty good. According to this information, he usually goes for the quick and easy. I guess it's understandable that he just goes straight for the kill though. I mean, no offense, but most of the bandits they've killed were pretty weak," she commented nonchalantly.

The others nodded in agreement. "That just means we have to be prepared for anything that he throws at us, right?" Raven, or Ash, asked after he finished his second plate of breakfast. Dawn nodded and he grinned. "Great, I'll go after him then. If it's a battle he likes, then a battle he'll get, right Pikachu?" he said excitingly, referring to the yellow mouse resting happily on his shoulder.

"Pi-ka-chu," he responded happily.

"Who're the others?" Sapphire, otherwise known as May, asked after putting down her plate of breakfast. She grabbed the orange juice next to her and drank it in content as Leaf picked up another folder.

"Gary Oak, going by the name of Auburn, from Pallet Town and also the grandson of Professor Oak." She frowned upon seeing his picture. _'Where have I seen him before?' _"Hmm, not a bad looking guy," she commented. "Anyway, it says here that he's always flirting with girls, which isn't too hard considering his looks. He's not a bad battler either." The brown-eyed brunette started to look through the other files that contained his other information along with his Pokémon team. "Apparently his method of killing is usually luring females with his charms and killing them right off the bat. Well at least he uses his looks as an advantage."

The brunette looked at her teammates, eyebrows raised. "Anyone up for a challenge?"

"Well, we would need someone who can match him, right? So it would have to be either you, Leaf, or Dawn," May pointed out.

The two mentioned girls exchanged looks with each other. "I think Dawn should," Leaf piped up. "She's usually better at handling guys, right?"

Dawn simply shrugged. "Alright then, guess I'll have to sharpen those flirting skills of mine."

Leaf giggled. "Have fun with that, Dawn. Oh, and he's really cocky, so it'll be a bit frustrating." Leaf then picked up another folder. "Oh, it seems like they have a girl in their top elite team," she said, surprised.

"Who is it?" May wondered aloud curiously.

The brunette showed them page with the picture. "Her name is Misty Waterflower and she goes by the name, Aqua. She's from Kanto as well, Cerulean City, to be specific. She specializes with a team of water type Pokémon, and she isn't someone that should be taken lightly. According to the information we have, she's a fierce fighter and a great swimmer as well, so I think its best we don't go near water when we're near her. She's a tomboy too."

"Can I see that folder?" May asked. Leaf nodded and handed her teammate the information, which was immediately scanned through by the sapphire-eyed brunette. "Hmm, and she uses her talent for swimming as an advantage too," she stated. "She usually tricks her opponents into a diving competition in a deep lake and she would kill them right then and there."

She then placed the folder down and started thinking to herself. May knew she was going to be up against a tough opponent and dangerous as well. She just had to make sure she didn't get tricked into doing the diving competition. "I'll go after her."

The three looked at her with wide eyes. "Are you sure, May? It's probably best that we all go after her."

She nodded. "It's fine, I know how to take care of myself, guys. Besides, the one you have to look out for is Paul. Even his picture is terrifying, so he's probably really deadly."

"Gee, thanks for making me feel better about going against him," Ash grumbled.

The other three laughed at her comment as they agreed with the brunette. "Okay, then, good luck May," Dawn said. She then picked up the last folder. "Then that leaves Leaf with the last guy."

The brown eyed brunette let out a moan as she dropped down to on her bed. "Why couldn't it have been a guy? That means I have to actually do my best now, great," she said sarcastically. "What does it say about him?"

Dawn's cobalt eyes scanned through the information and showed Leaf the picture of the last top assassin. "He's Andrew Hayden, going by the name Drew, and called Forest. He's from LaRousse City too," she informed. "He has a variety of types in his team and, unlike the rest, he doesn't immediately go for the kill. He would usually see the status of the opposing person and if that person is weak, he allows them to go first and if they're strong, he attacks. Nonetheless though, he still ends up killing them." Then, a small piece of info caught her attention. "Here's something we don't see everyday. He would sometimes poison his targets by putting poison powder into drinks or food and tricks them into drinking them."

"You have to watch out for that, Leaf," May warned.

The brunette waved it off as if it was nothing. "Don't worry about me; I'm going to be fine. What's his personality like?" Leaf asked as she flopped onto her stomach.

"Well, he's pretty arrogant and, but he never loses his cool. He's also the genius of the team. Hmm, strange personality," she stated. "Oh, and it's also recorded here that he tends to flip his hair a lot. I don't think that's really important, but hey, I guess it's good to know his hobbies."

Leaf let out a long sigh. "Well, I guess I will just have to deal with it for a while. And besides, it's gonna be fun to have a challenge." She then stood up and stretched out. "Alright, now let's all change, get our weapons and start training."

The rest did as they were instructed and went to their respective rooms to change. When they were done, they met in the training room which was not far from their barracks. Upon arriving, they discussed a few things with Lucy, who informed them on the time they'll be leaving and how much they had to train.

"I don't want any of you guys to take this lightly, got it? This team is much more powerful than I've ever seen in my years of being around. Not only that, but I've got word that they've been sent out to kill you guys as well, so stay sharp, got it?"

"Okay, Lucy, we get it," Dawn replied back as she examined her black and gold tipped dagger. The dagger itself was mostly black with a thin gold wrapping around the black handle. "Hmm, I need to remember to sharpen the tip at the end of training."

Lucy's ruby eyes narrowed at the four and her voice grew dangerous. "I am serious, you four. They can finish you guys all in ten seconds flat if you don't take this seriously. Do I make myself clear?"

Seeing how serious she was, the four actually started to take her advice seriously and with a blink of an eye, the team had turned as serious as well. "Yes, ma'am," they all replied in unison.

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><p>"From what Steven told us, this is Leaf Green, that's May Maple, Ash Ketchum, and Dawn Berlitz," Aqua announced. "I still don't see what's so good about them."<p>

"Well they must be pretty good if _Steven Stone _was impressed. You know that he doesn't praise often, right Misty?" Auburn pointed out. He quickly took notice at one of the folders and picked it up, reading through the information that was given. "Leaf Green, eh?" he said to himself.

The other three rolled their eyes upon hearing the tone in his voice and shook their heads. "Don't tell us you're going to hit on her and kill her just like that, Gary," Forest said. "You realize that she probably knows that's your trick."

Gary simply shrugged it away as he looked at the innocent look in the picture. "Don't worry about it. It says here that she's the brains of the team and that she can figure anything out within five minutes." Upon reading this, he smirked as he looked up at his teammates. "So who thinks they can match her intelligence?"

Drew raised his hand in interest. She had caught his attention when it was mentioned she was the brains. "I'll go after her. Let's see how much of a genius this girl really is."

Shadow smirked. "A little jealous that there's someone smarter than you?"

"Sure, Paul, like I'll ever be jealous of a tiny bandit."

"Do you want to know anything else, Drew?" Gary asked as he picked up another folder.

Drew flicked his hair. "What's her style? I know she's a bandit, but she has to have a way of killing her foes."

Gary smirked and picked up the folder again. "Glad you ask, Drew. Well, there's not much info on that but she usually waits for their guard to be down and she'll go for the kill. Her battling style shouldn't be taken so lightly either," he advised. "According to this, she specializes in the grass-type category. You think you can handle it?"

"Of course I can," the green haired teen answered. "Give me the folder."

Gary obediently handed the folder to his teammate and opened another folder, placing it in the middle of the circle they had formed in Misty's room. "Ash Ketchum, who is also going by the name, Raven," Misty read aloud. "Hmm, like Leaf, he's from Pallet as well."

The others read the information on it and when they were done, the three who didn't have their targets yet, exchanged looks. "Paul?" Gary suggested.

"Why me?" the aforementioned inquired. "You guys know how much I hate dealing with dense people like him."

"Because," Drew started, "it says that he's an excellent battler and you're probably the best out of all of us."

For about twenty minutes, the three was stuck trying to convince the quiet teen to target Ash and when he was tired of hearing reasons, he finally agreed. "Fine, I'll go after him. Is there anything that I have to look out for this guy?"

"Pikachu, his partner, is a tough one. You should watch out for that," Drew advised as he read through the file on Ash. "Other than that, you should be able to get him easily." And with that, he handed Paul the file.

He accepted the folder and grabbed the next folder that was yet to be read. When he opened it, he scowled and placed it in the middle of the circle. "This girl is way too cheery. That dense idiot is probably better for me."

Gary raised an eyebrow at the girl and picked up the folder before Misty could finish read it. "Hey, she's cute." He smirked when he read the rest of her information. "So she's from Twinleaf, Sinnoh," he read off. "She's also the one in the team that does the flirting."

"Just like you," Misty interjected, making the other two chuckle.

"She's got a good point," Paul pointed out.

"Yeah," Drew agreed. "Hey, you can target her. You would be matching her talents." He proceeded to take the file from Gary's hand and scanned through it. "Like you, Gary, she lures guys with her looks and kills them off when she deems them as weak enough and when their guards are down. Oh, looks like you've got some competition there."

The auburn haired teen simply rolled his eyes and smirked to himself as he grabbed the file back. "We'll see who's the better thief, Platinum."

"Then I guess that leaves me with May," Misty announced. She took the last file and looked through it. "Interesting," she said to herself, catching the others' attention. "She's the top of their elite team, yet she's also a dense one like Ash, ironic, isn't it?"

Gary grabbed the folder from her and looked through it. "Hey, she's not that bad looking too." As he continued, he chuckled. "It _is _ironic. She's a girl who enjoys eating and father's Norman of Petalburg, so she's not a bad battler either, though she prefers doing contests." He then smirked over at Drew. "Looks like you've got _two_ competitions: May and Dawn."

Drew flicked his hair. "Please, like anyone could be better than me, Drew Hayden."

Misty, ignoring his cocky comments, grabbed the file back from Gary. "Her style is sneaking up on the enemy and kills them, but there are times when she has to go hand to hand combat, which she isn't too bad at either." She sighed. "Great, that means more training for me."

"If you guys are done with deciding your targets, let's get training now," Paul grunted as he stood up from the blue rug Misty had out.

Everyone else agreed with him and got up as well. They each went to their respective rooms and changed into their assassin attire. Once they were done with that, they picked their six Pokémon team along with their best claw before heading down to the training arena, where they met up with Steven.

"Have you guys chosen your targets yet?" he inquired once the team reached him.

They nodded. "Yeah, we each decided on someone to go after," Misty said.

"Are they really that strong?" Drew questioned. "I mean, they don't seem that good as far as I can tell. For Arceus sakes, two of the members in that team are dense and love to eat."

Steven frowned. "Yes, I realize that, but you've got to see what they can do. They can finish someone off in a blink of an eye. Don't take them so lightly."

Before anyone else can make a cocky remark, Paul cleared his throat. "Alright, we understand. They're tough so we'll just have to train harder."

And with that, the four separated and went to their respective training spots where they would practice accuracy, train their Pokémon team, improve their speed, and practiced their hand to hand combats with other assassins.

'_Prepare to die, Bandits.'_

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><p><strong>And I am finished with chapter uno of this story. AHAHA, this seems more of an intro chapter. Next chapter will be them preparing to leave for the mission so look forward to it? :3 So yeah, sorry for updating only once since my spring break. I feel really awful for that but this really good anime (as stated above) distracted me and everything. IT IS REALLY GOOD! No joke!<strong>

**I've also had to deal with this "friend" of mine. Yeah, found out she's a total fake to me and ugh, I just wish she would say things to my face instead of behind my back. -.-**

**ANYYWAY, yeah, I tried not to go with the whole cliché pairing thing so I changed it up. I hope you guys are all okay with that. I understand that a lot of you prefer it the other way but you don't like it, you don't have to read it. But I'll let you guys tell me how you all liked it! REVIEW and tell me how it was and tell me if you like it this way! I would love to read your wonderfully long reviews and motivating words soo REVIEW please c:**


	3. Bandits Move First

**Hey guys, I'm updating again! So I know I should be updating Remember the Past but I actually had this idea in my mind for a while now and I'm just excited to have this chapter up so I decided to work on this. Fear not though, I'm hoping to have Chapter 20 up this weekend so look forward to it! **

**Anyway, please read the authors note at the end later because it is going to super important, okay? **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. I just own the idea.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two-Bandits Move First<strong>

"May," Dawn whispered silently. "Hey, May, wake up." The bandit proceeded to gently nudge her teammate to get her to wake up. When it didn't work, Dawn lowered herself to May's ear and whispered, "I'll send Piplup out on you."

Instantly, the brunette jumped from her bed and looked at the time. She groaned and yawned. "Dawn, explain to me why we're up at three in the morning."

She opened her mouth to answer but when she heard a knock from the door, she headed for it. "Leaf will answer it. I'll get the door."

When Dawn opened the door, it showed a cranky Ash with him team. Pikachu did not look happy. "It's three in the morning, why would you do this to me?"

The teen's cobalt eyes rolled upon hearing his whine. "Just deal with it, Ash. Besides, Leaf had a plan." She dragged him in the room and shut the door. They went to May's bed, where the two brunettes waited. "Did you explain what we were doing already?" she asked Leaf.

The green eyed brunette shook her head. "No, I was waiting for Ash to come as well so I can tell them both." She waited for Ash to take a seat before telling them the plan. "Okay, if we have to finish those assassins off easily without getting ourselves hurt, we would have to pull a surprise attack." She was about to continue until Ash raised his hand. "Yes, Ash?"

"How are we going to do that?"

Leaf sighed. "I was just getting there. Anyway, I've hacked into their database and enrolled us into their school. Now, we're assassins in training. They're expecting us by tomorrow afternoon so we better get a move on to Rustboro City and meet with the head of assassins, Steven Stone if we want to get there by the expected time."

"And how is this going to be a surprise attack?" May inquired, now interested in the topic.

Leaf smirked and turned to Dawn, who was sitting next to her. The brunette had already told her teammate the plan when she woke her up so Leaf allowed Dawn to take over from here. "Well, since we're in training, Steven will most likely pair us up with his top assassins, right?"

"Oh, I get it now," Ash piped. "And we can just instantly kill them during training."

"But won't they know how we look like already if they've been assigned to kill us?" May pointed out.

Leaf smirked. "May, May, May, who do you think I am?" she tsk-ed. She brought out a bag and brought out some clothes. "I've already ran this idea through Lucy and she loved it. Remember when we killed those assassins when they invaded?" The group nodded. "Well, apparently she kept the clothes just in case we might need it in the future and don't worry, guys, she washed them and everything. Oh and here are your fake id cards. We're going to have to go by that name while we're there."

"So we have to wear _beginners _clothing?" Dawn's face shifted to a disgusted one upon saying those words. "You know how much I hate wearing beginners' clothes."

Leaf rolled her eyes. "We hate it just as much as you do, but hey, we're assassins in training." She grabbed a pair of black yoga pants with red lining and threw it at May. She then proceeded to take out a tight red sleeveless top and a pair of red sneakers. Afterwards, she handed Dawn her outfit which was pretty similar except it was pink, while Ash got a pair with sleeves on his shirt with the color blue. Leaf had the girl's outfit but green of course. "Okay, so since Ash already brought his stuff and our rooms are like so near, we should leave in half an hour," Leaf planned. She started to head for the door but stopped. "Oh, and Dawn, you'll need to wear this black wig so they won't recognize you." The brunette then passed a black mid-back length wig to Dawn, who caught it skillfully.

She groaned as she looked at it. "If only I had normal hair," she sighed sadly. "Okay, guys, also make sure you have everything you need," Dawn added. "Because we're not going to return until we're done with this mission."

So in half an hour, the team was out at the gate, ready to leave. "Okay, I brought Wigglytuff, but I don't think she'll be able to fly for hours so I brought Ditto to transform to a flying type. What about you guys?"

The gang had already planned to fly to their desired destination because if they traveled by foot from Lilycove, it would take days before they made it.

"I brought Togekiss." Dawn got the ball and sent out her Pokémon.

Ash brought out his ball. "I chose Swellow."

"And I don't have any flying type Pokémon," May sighed. "Can I take the ride with you, Leaf?"

Leaf nodded. "Sure, why not." She then sent out Ditto. "Alright, Ditto, transform to Pidgeot," she commanded. The pink blob obeyed and was soon transformed into a majestic bird. She climbed on and turned to May. "Hop on," she said.

Dawn and Ash did the same with their Pokémon and once they were settled, Dawn flew up first. "Alright guys, the mission has begun." And with that, they were off soaring into the midnight blue sky.

* * *

><p>It was four in the afternoon when the team made it to the city. They decided to stop in front of the Pokémon Center to let their respective flying types rest for a while. After their Pokémon had rested and the four teens brushed up on some make-up to make themselves different, thanks to Dawn, the team made their way to Devon Corporation. Once they had arrived to the entrance, they were met by none other than Steven Stone.<p>

"Ah, you guys made it safe and sound. I was wondering where you four were at when we didn't see you guys earlier."

The team faked a laugh. "We took a small stop at the Pokémon Center when we arrived to freshen up," May answered.

Steven chuckled. "It's fine. Just as long as you guys made it here safely, then it's perfectly fine. Now, let me introduce you four to your trainers. Don't worry, I've read your information and matched you guys up depending on your personality so there wouldn't be any clashes. Just note that I don't remember your names yet, I've just seen your picture." Right on cue, his four top assassins walked up next to him.

Steven turned to Ash first, noticing Pikachu but didn't say anything. "Your personality caught my attention immediately. Your love for battling definitely matches Shadow." Steven moved aside as the aforementioned teen walked up. "Shadow, meet your trainee."

"Your name," he demanded.

Upon hearing the order, Ash quickly took out the ID card Leaf had handed to him earlier, looked at it hastily and flashing it in front of Paul's face. "I'm Zach Montgomery."

Paul scowled at slapped his hand away. "I know how to read, you don't have to tell me."

Ash simply chuckled and took a step back with his team as Steven introduced the rest. Steven then turned to May. "You are…"

"I'm Michelle Hastings," she answered with a bright smile.

"Michelle, your profile said that you're an incredible fighter, which is perfect for my elite assassin, Aqua." The orange haired teen stepped up and offered May a gentle smile.

She let her hand out for the brunette to shake. "It's nice to meet you, Michelle. I'm looking forward to training you."

Upon seeing the two get along so well, Steven moved on to the Leaf. "I'm Alice Blue," she greeted.

"Ah, yes, the brains of the group," Steven stated, impressed. "I know someone just perfect for you. Forest," he called.

The green haired assassin came up and smirked before flicking his hair. Leaf had the strong urge to roll her eyes but resisted the urge. "Let's see if you're as good as fighting," he greeted.

"And lastly," Steven started as he turned to Dawn.

"I'm Dana Fields."

"Well, judging from your personality I think that you fit well with Auburn."

The last assassin stepped up, smirk plastered on his face. "Why hello there," he purred.

Steven cleared his throat to catch their attention and when all attention was on him, he started on what he had to say. "Now, these guys have to leave for a mission in the few days. I usually wouldn't recommend beginners to go along but judging from your abilities, you guys may be able to catch with this team pretty quickly so if you want to tag along to see how things go, then feel free to do so."

"We'll see about that," Dawn answered. "We want to adjust to this place first and everything."

"Speaking of which," May piped up. "Where are our rooms?"

Steven snapped his fingers. "So that's what I forgot." He turned to Misty. "Aqua, please show these girls there rooms and boys," he said, referring to the three assassins, "please show Zach his room. Since it's already late, just train for two hours today and dinner will be at eight. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded and then, they all dispersed into their respective rooms.

* * *

><p>After their training session, the girls all met up in Dawn's room. Their excuse was to borrow something from 'Dana' and since Misty had to meet up with Steven, the girls had some time to talk without fearing anyone would overhear.<p>

"Okay, so since we're in the same building as Misty, maybe we can kill her in her sleep," Dawn suggested.

May shook her head. "It's not that easy though," she stated. "Don't forget she's an _elite _assassinso she's probably a light sleeper or she probably has some high security system in her room. Maybe I can grow closer to her and when she least expects it…"

"I see where you're going with this," Leaf peeped. "That's a smart plan, _Michelle._" She had figured that she they should use their fake names even if they were alone. Just in case.

May giggled. "Why, thank you, _Alice._" She then turned to Dawn. "So how do you plan to kill Gary?"

"Well, it seems that he's already into me so all I have to do is flirt back with him, go on a couple of dates and when he least expects it, a dagger will be plunged straight through his heart." When she announced her plans, she had made sure that there were no spy cameras or any type around them. Even knowing that there were none of them, she whispered her plans. "And you, Alice?"

The brunette simply shrugged. "I honestly don't know about this guy. I mean, he's the brains of the group and even during training, I can see that he doesn't take pity on girls when he fights. Imagine him with a weapon, guys. He can be pretty deadly."

"So that means a whole lot of training for us?" Dawn sighed.

The two brunettes nodded. "Yeah, but I guess we weren't called for this mission for nothing," May said. "Besides, we can even learn more about our targets since we're training here."

Upon hearing this, Dawn sighed again and started to run her fingers through her black wig. "So how are we going to tell this to Zach?"

"Tell what to Zach?" a new voice rang through the room. The three girls each turned their heads to the source of the new voice and their eyes widened. Surely she didn't hear the conversation beforehand. "Sorry, I just came here to tell you guys that it's dinner and when no one answered, I had to sneak in to tell you guys. So what did you have to tell him?"

"We were just wondering who was going to tell Zach that it was dinner. He was complaining that he was starving earlier on our way here to Rustboro," Leaf lied flawlessly.

Misty simply giggled. "Don't worry about it; the guys are going to tell him. But judging from their personality, they'll most likely prank him and tell him that dinner's canceled. How about I bring you guys to the cafeteria and I'll go get him as well," she suggested.

"Sure," the three answered in unison.

* * *

><p>The orange haired teen made her way to the boys' dormitory when she came across her three teammates. She frowned upon seeing just three. "Where's Zach? You three were supposed to bring him with you."<p>

Gary simply laughed. "He's a beginner, Misty. You can't expect us to walk around with him."

Her eyes narrowed at him. "But he's paired up with Paul as his trainer, so he's gonna be seen with us regardless," she retorted. When they just stared at her, she sighed in frustration. "You guys are hopeless. Forget it, just go get your food and I'll bring him then."

"Why?" Drew snorted.

"Because unlike you guys, I'm not afraid of a little embarrassment," she answered before stepping into the dorm.

Once she was inside and gone from an earshot, Gary snickered. "Five bucks says she has a crush on him," he said as he brought out his wallet.

Drew simply shook his head. "I'm not betting against that if it's true." He then turned to Paul and raised an eyebrow at him. "What about you, Paul?"

"I'm not betting anything with you two morons," he grumbled before walking to the cafeteria.

The two boys exchanged looks before shrugging and following the stoic member to the cafeteria to fetch their dinner.

* * *

><p>Ash heard the knock come from his door before opening it. When he saw that it was one of his targets his teammate was supposed to kill, he was surprised but had to mask it with a different reaction. "Aqua, what are you doing here?"<p>

"Those three idiots didn't tell you this, but it's dinner, and I heard from the three girls that you were starving when you arrived," she explained.

Ash's eyes widened. "Are you serious? Then let's go; I'm dying over here." He quickly brought Pikachu to his shoulder and ran out his room.

And so, the two made their way to the cafeteria, making small talk as they walked. "So, Aqua, when are you guys going on your mission?"

"In just a few days," she answered. "Are you going to come along to see how things go here in Devon Corporation?"

Ash shrugged. "I don't know. What if I get in the way or something?"

"I doubt it. And like Steven said earlier, based on you and the girls' abilities, you guys could catch on pretty fast." She decided to quicken her pace when she saw more and more students gather to the cafeteria. Ash followed her. "Besides, we're going to travel by foot, so we can train you guys as well," she added. When she saw that he was still in deep thoughts, she smiled. "Just think about it."

Right when those words left her mouth, they had arrived to the cafeteria and Ash immediately rushed in there, leaving Misty. She simply shook her head and made her way inside, using her elite pass to get to the front. When she made it to her table she usually sat with her teammates, she was met with smug looks from Drew and Gary.

"So, you were flirting with him?" Gary inquired slyly.

She simply rolled her sea green eyes. "Oh, shut up. At least I was nice enough to bring him here. I had to use up my precious dinner time to bring him here."

"That's because you have your stupid elite pass which gives you the better food anyway," Paul muttered while the other two chuckled in the back.

The chuckling stopped when they spotted the mallet in Misty's hand. She then looked around and noticed something. "Where are the four?"

Drew pointed at a table in the corner. "Your crush is sitting over there," he snickered, which resulted in him getting hurt with the mallet. "Hey, it was just a joke!"

When Misty finally took a seat, she looked around to see if any of them were nearby. When she was sure, the tension became serious. "So what do you guys think of Steven's theory earlier?"

"It makes sense," Paul answered. "I wouldn't be surprised if his theory was true."

"But," Drew interrupted, "I'm sure they wouldn't slip up that easily. If they're as good as he says they are, then they wouldn't allow themselves to get caught so easily."

"Drew's right," Gary agreed. "We're probably all just paranoid."

No one said anything after that because it was probably true. They were most likely paranoid, so they decided to brush it off and continued with their food. But in the back of their minds, they were all thinking the exact same thing.

'_What if all this is a set-up?'_

* * *

><p><strong>So, yeah, lame chapter. I actually thought of the whole sneaking into the headquarters a long time ago but I wanted to plan the rest out. And I never really thought of a legit idea for this chapter after that plan so I decided to plan as I type. LOL.<strong>

**SO IMPORTANT NOTE: Um, you're all gonna kill me for this, but I've decided to delete Demon's Flower. The reason is because I've lost inspiration and I feel like I should've used my own idea instead of taking the idea of another story. So I feel bad. BUT, I have two new stories waiting to be typed up in my profile. It would be nice to see which story I should work on with that poll :3 AHAHAH, SO VOTE ON POLL AND MAKE ME HAPPY?**

**YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD ALSO MAKE ME HAPPY? IF YOU ALL REVIEWED! ;3 AHHA, it would really make me happy to see your opinions on this chapter. I'll start! I didn't really like this chapter. Now, let me see your opinions! So review and poll!**


	4. Training Session

**I understand that you guys are probably thinking that I should be working on my other stories but I had an urge to work on this story so I decided to do it on this one! Okay, so I don't know why I'm still receiving reviews telling me that they prefer boys vs. girls when I stated clearly on the prologue that I didn't want it to be some cliché fiction. I guess people don't read the author's messages. I might as well just insert it in the story.**

**ON A BRIGHTER NOTE, thank you all for those who reviewed and I'm glad there are still people who still read it, ha, ha. So yeah, here's the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! I just own the plot. **

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Three-Training Session<strong>_

"_Hey, Leaf, follow me!" a little boy called. "I have to show you something." He ran up to her and grabbed her hand before dragging her to run along with him. _

_The little girl thought deeply. 'I know that voice. Where have I heard it before…?' She looked in front of her at the boy who was grinning like crazy. Through her chocolate brown bangs, she saw that he had a bit of spiky hair with matching green eyes. She couldn't help but feel that she knew him. _

_When they arrived to his secret destination, he turned to her, grin still visible. "What do you think about it? I found it on one of my adventures this morning."_

_She looked around them. They were somewhere in the woods, she knew that much. When she scanned the little details, she realized that they were deep within the woods, where varieties of flowers and berries grew. There were also rare species of pokémon. She opened her mouth to speak when a sound drowned out her voice. _

_Leaf abruptly turned around as she saw the boy gape at something behind her. Her eyes widened as she saw a black helicopter hovering just behind her. Before she was able to say anything, an overprotective arm defended her. She looked to see the same boy. He was standing defensively over her and turned his head to meet her eyes. "Run and don't ever look back," he said calmly. _

_She shook her head. "No, I won't leave you alone." _

"_Go, Leaf," he ordered again harshly. "If you don't go, you'll be kidnapped." _

_She shook her head again. "No, I won't leave you. You're my best friend." _

_He opened his mouth to retort, only to be interrupted by the sound of a chinchou. Their eyes widened as they saw sparks flow through its body. Then, before they knew it, they were zapped. When they still felt that they were still alive rather than fried, they opened their eyes, only to find themselves paralyzed. A man, dressed in dark clothing along with a mask to cover his face approached Leaf. He threw her over his shoulder and proceeded to walk back to the helicopter, his chinchou following close behind. _

"_Leaf!" the boy cried. He struggled to break free from the status problem. "LEAF!" _

The brunette's eyes shot open immediately. She looked around at her two roommates, relieved to see that they weren't woken by her. She sat up on her bed before pulling her knees to her chest. She was panting, hard. _'What was that dream?' _she asked herself. She placed a hand over her forehead, only to find herself sweating. "Gross," she murmured under her breath. She looked at the time. It was one in the morning.

Leaf decided to go to the bathroom to wipe the sweat from her face. Since they had one in their room, she thanked Arceus that she wouldn't wake anyone up from the creak of the door. Once she was done with that, she was scared to go back to sleep. So she decided to take a late night stroll. The brunette grabbed a thin cardigan and pulled it over her green tee along with dabbing on light easy to wash makeup before slipping on her shoes and grabbing her trusty ditto.

The brunette knew their door creaked whenever it opened, so she used the window. She opened it and sent out Ditto, ordering it to transform into a pidgeot, to which it obliged to do immediately. She hopped on, closed the window and was brought down to the ground before returning the pink blob, who had transformed back after landing.

It was eerie at Rustboro City and cold as well. The brunette regretted bringing the cardigan and cursed silently to herself as she walked the streets of assassin territory. Leaf finally decided to walk to the pokémon center since it was the only placed opened this late at night. When she arrived, she went to find Nurse Joy, who was reading a magazine by the sofas. The brunette had greeted her warmly and asked if there were any food left.

Nurse Joy smiled. "We have some leftovers. Is that fine with you?"

Leaf nodded, smile gracing on her lips. "It is perfectly fine, thank you."

"Very well, I'll just heat it up for you." And with that, the pink haired nurse headed towards the kitchen while the brown eyed brunette made herself comfortable on one of the couches. She let out a sigh of content as the heater came on and felt warmed up. She thought back to her dream.

'_There has to be some kind of connection,' _she thought. _'It's already happened twice within three days._'

"Fancy seeing you here," a voice rang through. It definitely snapped her away from her thoughts when she recognized the voice. _'Gary Oak,' _she thought bitterly. She had been grateful for the last minute makeup she had decided to put on to prevent him from recognizing her.

The brunette turned around, only to be met by a pair of green eyes. "I can say the same to you."

He smirked as he took a seat beside her. "I always come here late at night," he admitted. "It's quiet enough for me to think." He then looked at her, interest sparking in his eyes. "Why are you out here so late? You should be resting up for training tomorrow."

Leaf shrugged. "I couldn't sleep so I decided to take a stroll. It was really cold though so I decided to just settle here since it was warm."

"Here are some of tonight's leftovers," Nurse Joy interrupted as she brought back a plate of pasta. "I also got some hot chocolate for you."

Leaf smiled. "Thank you so much, Nurse Joy." She picked up the fork and started to dig in, enjoying the warmth in her mouth. "This is really good," she commented after swallowing.

The nurse simply smiled. "Thank you very much." She then turned to Gary. "And would you want your usual?" she inquired. He nodded and she left again to the kitchen.

Leaf raised an eyebrow. "Your usual? Do you come here often?"

"Yeah, I come here every night." He stared at nothing in front of nothing. The teen looked as if he was deep in thought and Leaf didn't plan on snapping him from it, so she went back to eating her pasta. She then heard him murmur something under his breath.

"Did you say something?" she asked.

He snapped his head up and shook his head as he diverted his attention to her. "No, it's nothing."

She decided to let it slide since it was most likely not going to concern her, so she just shrugged. "Okay, well I'll be going back now. It's probably going to be colder soon."

When Leaf stood up, Gary followed her actions, causing her to raise an eyebrow. He removed his black jacket and brought it over her shoulders. "Here, it's so you won't freeze."

"And you're not going to be cold?"

He shrugged. "I'll live," he said nonchalantly. "You better start heading back. We have security that walks around every night right around this time." Just as if he had read her mind, he answered her question. "I'm part of an elite team. They won't do anything to me."

Leaf gave him a skeptical look before heading for the door. "Then thanks," she murmured as she went through the door, back to the cold and eerie night.

* * *

><p>The next day, training was brutal. Well, for the assassins in training, it was brutal. For the four bandits, it was incredibly simple since they had gone through worse.<p>

At one corner of the training gym, Misty and May were going off on hand in hand combat. Misty had blocked the roundhouse kick May had done. Misty then used her open arm to lay a punch on May, only to have the brunette grab her by the wrist, though it didn't seem to surprise her. The orange haired teen opened up her hand and turned it towards May's thumb, forcing the brunette to release her grip. Before May had time to figure what was happening, Misty slyly slipped her leg towards May's leg and tripped her. The sparring was over.

"That…was…good," Misty panted as she offered a hand to May. She caught her breath. "I'm impressed, Michelle. No one had ever tired me out this much before," she praised. "I think you're ready to come with us to the mission."

May shook her head as she stood up thanks to Misty. "No, I don't think I'm ready."

"No," Misty said. "After another training session, you'll be good to come with us. Are you sure you've never done any training before?"

A modest smile made its way to May's face. "Well, I trained a little."

* * *

><p>In another corner of the gym, there was a battle being held between Paul and Ash. They both stood on respective sides, with their pokémon waiting for their orders. The battle had gone on for a while now and both parties were tired but refused to give in.<p>

"Now, Gliscor, use Stone Edge," Ash ordered.

"Dodge and use Brick Break, Electivire," Paul said nonchalantly.

The yellow and black striped humanoid creature cried out his name before jumping out of the way of the incoming stones and one of his forearms became surrounded by white sparks. And within a blink of an eye, he karate chopped the large bat directly on the head, bringing it to come down.

"Gliscor, can you get up?" Ash called as the bat landed on the ground. Gliscor struggled and fought hard to get back up.

Paul, not giving Ash time to call out a move, decided to continue the battle. "Now use Thunder on the rocks," he ordered.

Electivire cried his name again as he hit both of his tails together before using Thunder on the ground, sending rocks towards Gliscor. It was a direct hit and it made the bat pokémon fall down again, this time making it faint.

Ash took out his ball and returned his pokémon. "You did well, Buddy. Have a good rest now," he said to the ball before attaching it back onto his belt.

"Return, Electivire," Paul said simply as the humanoid creature was surrounded by red light before being brought back to the red and white ball. "Too weak," he commented as Ash approached him.

Ash frowned. "What do you mean too weak? I've trained Gliscor hard and you're calling him weak?"

His stony eyes rolled in disinterest. "Look, Montgomery, I don't like wasting my time on people like you, so you better prove to me that you're worth training or I'm tossing you to the second best team, got it?" His stare was cold and harsh and it pierced through Ash like an arrow.

Paul then turned towards the training ground May and Misty were on. "Let's see how good you can fight with your hands," he said as he began to make his way to the ground.

* * *

><p>In another corner of the room, Drew was training Leaf with precision with the stars. "I can't work with this glove either," Leaf finally said as she removed the black and green glove from her hand. "It's too bulky."<p>

Drew smirked and flicked his hair and he bent down to the ground to pick up another pair. "That's what I told you but nooo, you wanted it to match it with your training outfit. Here, try these."

He tossed her another pair of gloves that was identical to the ones she just had on except it was lighter. The brunette slipped it on with ease and smiled at the weight. "It fits perfectly," she commented. She then looked at the three dummies in front of her and behind her. "Alright, I'm ready, Forest."

Drew pressed the started button to make the dummies start going to hurt along with attack her. Leaf easily saw them hurl towards her so she jumped up, did a backflip before throwing six steel throwing stars at each dummy straight into the head. She landed and was met with an amazed Drew. She smirked. "Impressed?"

This only made him smirk and flick his hair again. "Not at all, Alice," he answered casually. "That's just the beginning, though I will admit that for a first try, it was good."

Leaf smirked. "So you do compliment once in a while."

"I'm not that mean, you know? That's Shadow's department," Drew defended.

Leaf giggled as she removed the pair of gloves and made her way to Drew. "Back to subject; will I have to try on some other gloves?"

He shook his head. "No, you're pretty much good with this pair." He pressed a button on the remote control, which had more dummies brought out. "Now, let's see how good you are with adding hand eye coordination."

"What does all this have to do with my brains? If I wanted someone to train me at this department I could've just asked Aqua," she deadpanned. "I understand the precision one. That one needed the perfect angles, but what's with this one?"

Drew simply rolled his eyes. "It tests you to see how long it takes you to plan your attacks. Imagine being stuck in the middle of this during a mission. You would have to think quickly for a plan," he explained. "For someone who's the brains of the group, you don't get the simple stuff."

The brunette blushed in embarrassment. "Shut up, I just didn't get the point of this activity."

The smirk stayed plastered on Drew's face as he put his hands up in defense. "I'm just preparing you since you'll be tagging along with us for our mission."

Leaf looked at him with a bewildered look. "I never said I was going to tag along."

He flicked his hair. "Well, would you rather be trained with a much harsher trainer or would you want me to train you?"

Leaf realized that he had a point and mumbled some incoherent words under her breath. Drew just smirked. "Just as I thought, Alice."

* * *

><p>In the final corner, Dawn was doing an obstacle course with Gary. In front of her was a track like field with obstacles in the way, each in every turn. The first one had fireballs being flung from left to right by the fire type pokémon that were own by the team. The second obstacle was dug up making a huge gap. In that gap, there were spikes that looked like it would hurt if one were to fall in. The third one had vines surrounding the whole row while the last one had another gap, this time filled with water along with a couple of water pokémon in there. There was also a thin plank between the gaps, which was impossible to walk on.<p>

Dawn turned to raise an eyebrow at Gary. "You want me to do all of this?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it said on your profile that you're flexible and you can get through the tight situations so I'm seeing if it's true." Then he brought out a timer and smirked. "And you're getting timed too."

Dawn gave him an incredulous look. "You're kidding," she groaned.

"Nope, now, begin."

Upon hearing that word, the bluenette broke off into a sprint and when she saw fireballs being thrown, she quickly examined the speed of it and when she found the perfect opening, she sprinted through the openings, dodging each ball with perfect grace and continued onto the second obstacle. The gap was big; she admitted that when she saw it. So she stood back and sprinted before doing a flip in the air and landing on the other side. She sighed in relief. The third obstacle was a bit of a challenge since her hair was going to be ruined. Luckily, she had tied it up to a ponytail and so she decided to quickly squeeze through each vine. It took some time but she had managed to get through it. Lastly, she made it to the plank, where she flipped to do a handstand to walk through it. The plank was thin enough to make it unable for foot to walk on but Dawn's hands were dainty so she was sure she was able to do this one. Once she was done with that obstacle, she quickly sprinted to the finish line and turned to Gary.

He stopped the timer and smirked at her. "Four minutes," he announced. "It's not bad for a beginner like you."

She panted as she tried to catch her breath. "So what now?"

"That was just warm up," he said. "I had to see if you were ready to come to with us when we leave for our mission."

Dawn furrowed her brows together as she heard those words. "What do you mean? I'm not going to come along."

"Oh yes you are," he confirmed. "I'm going to need someone to flirt with so you'll be coming along. Besides, without me here, you're not going to survive."

Dawn returned the smirk. "Oh really now?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I mean, my voice is perfect. Imagine not hearing it for weeks, Dana," he said seductively.

The bluenette felt his breath tickling her neck. "Back to training," she chimed as she pushed him away from her.

He shrugged and turned to make his way to where Drew and Leaf were training. "Alright, we'll be working on precision."

* * *

><p>It was finally dinner time and the four bandits had been back to their table they were at the other night, away from the other assassins. "So, I've been informed that I'll be traveling with them when they leave for their mission," Dawn declared.<p>

"Me too," Leaf added.

They both face-palmed as they saw their other two teammates devour the food in front of them. When they finally took their time to swallow, they were met with a glowering Leaf and Dawn.

"Did you two say something?" Ash inquired.

"Are you guys going to be tagging along with them for the mission?" Leaf asked.

"Where's the mission at?" May questioned before taking a huge gulp of her drink.

Dawn bit into her salad and swallowed before answering her. "Well, Alice had this theory that they're most likely going to be heading to Lilycove to steal _our _orb," Dawn explained.

The two turned to Leaf who nodded in confirmation. "It does make sense if you think about it. I've read the news. There aren't any crises going on nor is there any city slash town in danger. And if I'm not wrong, they would have to have the Blue Orb to prevent us from fighting back when they summon Groudon, right?"

The three allowed this information to sink into their heads before nodded. "She has a good point," May agreed. "So I guess I'll take up Misty's offer."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, me too," he seconded. "She asked me the other day."

"And," Dawn added, "if we do tag along, then that means we can kill them on the journey," she whispered silently enough for the team to hear.

They smirked and nodded in agreement. "Then it's settled. We'll be joining them on the mission," May announced.

* * *

><p><strong>And chapter four is finished! So, does anyone know what's wrong with Leaf? It's pretty obvious, actually so I'm sure you guys will get it. Are you guys confused as to why even in their group they have to still use their fake names? It's because like just in case they get caught. Simple as that c: <strong>

**So again, not much happened. Kill me now. AHAH, I'll try to update Remember the Past this weekend if I have time, okay? **

**REVIEW and tell me how it was! I'm always delighted to see how you liked it and all. It makes me all motivated and such. Ha, ha, so yeah, tell me how it was and I'll try to update ASAP. Okay, bye.**


	5. Mission Begins

**Hey there, guys! I am back with another update. Don't worry, I'll have Remember the Past up soon hopefully on Wednesday or Thursday! **

**Thank you everyone who reviewed. You guys had made me one happy author. So, whoever that's still reading this story, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. **

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Four-Mission Begins<strong>_

It was two in the morning and the sky was dark and purple while wild poochyenas barked wildly. The lights in the bright orb's room were dimmed while clashes of dagger and steel stars came into contact with each other.

"You traitor!" someone yelled out as he dodged the flying star coming his way. He sighed out in relief when it hit the wall behind him, unknown that the guy he was fighting was approaching his way.

On the other side of the room, was his comrade, who was also in a tight spot as he was also fighting someone from the other side. He had tried to help but with no avail as he was being held up fighting with this traitor.

His guard was down for a split second after looking for his comrade, leaving him open. This was all the guy needed to sprint behind him and lock his neck with his arm, dagger at his neck. A smirk formed on his lips as he brought it closer. "What do you mean I'm a traitor? I was just a spy." And without letting him speak, the dagger slashed his neck, killing him.

The bandit dropped him to the floor, making sure that he was dead by slicing another cut through his neck before helping out his teammate, who was still fighting the assassin.

"Cloud," called his teammate, attracting his attention, "get the orb and send it back to headquarters, I got this." He saw the stars coming his way and blocked it with his gold black tipped dagger. Afterwards, he disappeared with a fast sprint to the front of the assassin, and before the latter was able to react, the dagger pierced through his heart.

After pulling the dagger out, he made his way to his partner, who was replacing the Red Orb with a fake one. He raised an eyebrow at him. "We have to continue this fake act. Luckily, Lucy was able to get someone to fix the wires for those video cameras otherwise we'd be screwed."

His partner nodded in agreement. "Alright then, I'll have Skarmory bring it back then," he confirmed, reaching for the ball that held the steel bird. "What do you suggest we do about them?" he inquired, jabbing a thumb towards them.

Cloud just smirked, taking out two spare beginners' daggers. "I have a plan."

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, the alarm went off, waking everyone in Devon Corporation. The three bandits groggily got up from bed and added some touch of light makeup to make themselves look different before heading for the door.<p>

"Wait, Dana, your wig," May said quietly, handing her friend the black wig. Even though the alarm blocked out most of the sounds, they had to stay on the safe side.

The bluenette lazily put it on her head and the three exited the room. They were met with hoards of female assassins slowly making their way to the exit and to the training gym. Since the three bandits didn't know what was happening, they just followed everyone else.

When they arrived, everyone was lined up against the walls. In the center of the gym stood the head of the assassins, Steven Stone, where he was able to see everyone. He waited for everyone to settle down with their whisperings, but when they still haven't stopped in four minutes, he sent out his aggron, which frightened everyone with his ear-shattering cry of his name.

Once everyone was calmed down, he settled down the bipedal, which stood at his master's side. Steven cleared his throat as he looked at everyone around him. "Do you all know why the alarm system was pulled?" Everyone shook their heads as he continued. "It seems that we had some intruders from the bandits' side trying to steal our orb."

Gasps were heard from the females of the group while murmurs came from the males. Steven caught a hand go up and nodded towards the green haired assassin. "I thought we had those second best team guarding it," he pointed out disgustingly at the mention of the team.

Drew and Gary had always had something against two members that team. Though they never gave their reasons for such hatred, it was shown through the way how they spoke about them.

Steven only nodded and had his aggron call back everyone's attention with his cry. "You're right, Forest, we did have that team guard it. Unfortunately, it seems that two of the members were actually spies from the bandit's side." Curious whispers rang through the place as they heard the news. "Luckily, our assassins were able to kill them and protect the orb. Cloud, Lightning, please come out here."

From the shadows of the gym, the two strolled their way to the center, next to Steven as bandages covered their faces. "Thanks to these two, the Red Orb was saved," the silver haired man announced.

Everyone cheered happily at their hero, but Drew and Gary only glared at them. Those were hiding something, Drew knew it. He just had to figure out what they were hiding though.

"Hey," Gary called from beside him to the two heroes in the center. "How did you two kill the traitors?"

They smirked as Cloud fixed his white hat. Lightning ran a hand through his blond locks. They exchanged a look, asking who should explain. Finally, Cloud cleared his throat. "Well, it wasn't a hard fight. In fact, it was pretty easy since those bandits were just beginners."

"How do you two know they were beginners?" Paul questioned, narrowing his gaze at Lightning.

The blond took this as signal to answer so he obliged. "The way how they were fighting proved it. When they lunged at us with their daggers, it was careless, so it left them open and we just plunged our claw's sharp knives at their hearts and they were finished."

"Now, enough questions," Steven interrupted before any other questions were thrown out, throwing the three teens a nasty look before composing him. "Now that we know that those _pathetic _bandits are prepared for this, we'll have to start training harder, understand?" Everyone responded with a nod. "Alright, now tomorrow, I'll be observing your training and choose two top assassins to fill in for the two traitors, so I suggest getting a lot of rest. Everyone, go back to your rooms," he ordered. Then he spotted his needed team. "Team number one, follow me." They turned to see him turn to the direction of his office and followed suit behind. When Drew and Gary walked past Cloud and Lightning, they smirked at them and bumped hard onto their shoulders. It took them all of their will powers to not kill them on the spot.

In the office, Steven was sitting at the head of the table while Misty and Paul took one side of the table with Drew and Gary on the other. "What did you need to see us for?" Misty inquired.

"Is it about the intruders you informed us about the other day?" Gary suggested. "Because I believe that those two were lying."

Steven raised a questioning eyebrow at him as Gary turned to Drew, who nodded in agreement. "Lightning slipped up," he stated. "He said that those two lunged at them carelessly. If they were to make such an idiotic mistake, then there's no way they could've gotten to second best team, right?"

"He has a point," Paul pointed out.

"That doesn't make sense though," Misty interjected for Steven was able to say anything. "If they're really the intruders, why would they kill their own teammates?"

Gary then turned to her, his eyes steel. "What if that's what they wanted us to believe? There could be two other running around, helping them."

Hearing this, Drew's eyes immediately widened as he turned to Steven. "The security cameras," he said. "Maybe it can show us if we're right or not."

Steven only sighed at the request. "I would show it to you guys, but someone hacked into the system and closed all the cameras during that time span." Then he looked up at the group. "Though, I will admit that you guys have a point about those two. I'll keep tabs on them. I hate to say this, but you four will have to leave for your mission tomorrow. Are your trainees ready?"

"They're strong, but I don't know…" Misty trailed off. "Michelle doesn't feel like she's ready yet."

"Well, Gary and I got ours handled. Dana and Alice are ready to leave with us," Drew brought up.

Paul just shrugged as they turned to him. Then Steven cleared his throat again as he was about to talk again. "Well, if you think they're ready, then bring them along. I trust your judgments so don't disappoint me, understood?"

They nodded in agreement and all stood up, stretching out their limbs. "When do you want us to leave?" Paul inquired.

"Before dawn," Steven answered as he stood up to look outside his window. Purple skies met his eyes as he stared out into nothing. His four best assassins made their way to the door until they were stopped by the sound of something in the air.

"Was that what I thought it was?" Misty asked as she stormed next to Steven to look out the window. "I swear I heard a-"

"We heard it too," the guys answered. This caused the team to exchange looks. "Steven, I think we may have to leave a lot earlier. We'll have to leave tonight," Drew planned. "That bird can only be found on the other side and only one person owns that. Lightning." His face darkened.

"I know," Steven said as he made his way to the door. "And I'm going to go for a check up on our two _heroes_." And with that, the five left the office as Steven hastily walked over to Cloud and Lightning's room.

When they made it to the point of separation between females and males, they planned out their moves and when they were going to strike.

"It's best if we just go with our original plan and travel there," Drew suggested. "That way they'll think we won't attack yet and let their guards down."

They nodded. "Okay, then we should get ready," Misty said. "I'll wake the three up and you guys better wake Zach up too, got it?"

They only chuckled while Paul smirked. "Alright, we won't forget your little boyfriend," Gary joked as they started to make their way inside their dorms.

Then he felt the mallet hard on his head. Before he was able to retort with anything else, Misty was already sprinting back to her dorm, leaving him to mutter incoherent words under his breath. Then he grinned. "Finally, those two are finally going to get busted. I knew there were something suspicious about them the moment they stepped foot on this ground."

Drew smirked and flicked his hair. "Some bandits they are," he said. "They slipped up so easily."

* * *

><p>A knock came from the girls' door as they were just about to fall asleep. They all groaned as Dawn quickly tossed the wig over her head and smooth it out before answering the door. "Oh, hey, Aqua, what're you doing here?"<p>

"I was going to ask Michelle if she was going to tag along with us on our mission. It turns out that we're leaving in an hour because things have gotten serious."

Hearing this caught Dawn's attention as she quickly perked up from it. "Oh, yeah, we talked about it and she said that she and Zach are going to tag along as well."

Misty smiled. "Great, can you three get ready? I'll get you when I'm done." She then turned and walked to the room across from theirs.

Once she was inside, Dawn closed the door and quickly woke the other two up, explaining the plan to them. When that was done, they started to change and pack.

"Do you think they caught Brendan and Barry?" Leaf asked in a hushed tone as she started to brush her hair.

Dawn shrugged as she applied some concealer under her eyelids to cover the dark circles. "I'm not sure. But at least they were able to fool these stupid assassins," she answered quietly.

Then May exited from the bathroom and started to pack her fanny pack, filling it with her team, a few potions, her dagger, and her claw along with some stars. "Do you think they managed to send the orb back to Lucy?"

"They seemed pretty smug back there, so I think they were able to accomplish their task," Dawn noted as she started to pack her bags.

May only bit her lip as she wondered if they were going to get out okay. "I hope they escape soon," she said quietly to herself.

* * *

><p>Pikachu was awakened by a sudden loud knocking from his master's dorm room. The yellow rat went to his master and nudged him, waking him up. "What's wrong, Buddy?"<p>

Pikachu motioned to the door and the knocking, which was still going on. Ash quickly put on his contacts and dabbed a tiny bit of powder on his face before answering the door. "What are you doing here, Auburn?"

"We're leaving on our mission soon and Aqua told us to inform you. You are tagging along, right?"

He nodded and thanked the assassin before closing the door again. Afterwards, he left to go get ready and pack up some things in his backpack. He then turned to Pikachu. "Are you ready?" he asked as he placed his dagger inside.

The yellow mouse nodded as he climbed onto Ash's shoulder. The two checked to make sure they had everything and once that was settled, they left the room, meeting the guys outside of his room.

"About time," Paul remarked crankily before walking ahead.

Ash turned to Drew and Gary, hoping one of them would tell him what he did wrong. "Don't worry about him," Gary waved off. "He's just cranky, that's all."

* * *

><p>"Where are they?" Misty asked no one in particular as she looked at her watch. "Those guys are late," she stated as her foot tapped on the asphalt ground.<p>

They were currently waiting for the guys outside of Devon Corporation. It was freezing and Misty just wanted to get going already. Dawn and May were on the bench, trying not to fall asleep while Leaf was snoozing away on the other half of the bench.

"_W-where are you taking me?" she asked shakily as the helicopter flew off. The guys who had taken her placed her on a seat and tied her up before giving her a full heal. Now, she was stuck sitting, tied up, in a stuffy helicopter. _

_One of the guys smirked. "We're taking you to our boss." _

_Her eyes widened. "B-but, w-w-why me?" _

_The smirk only widened. "Because, sources say that your brains are beyond anything else. Our organization needs someone like you." _

_He held her by her cheeks but she only forced herself to turn away, hurting herself in the process. "I won't work for you." _

_He only scowled at her and sent out another creature from his ball, this time commanding it to use sleep powder on her, making her fall asleep. _

"Hey, Alice, wake up," someone called.

Leaf stirred herself awake and when her eyes fluttered open, she was met with a pair of green eyes. "Auburn?" she murmured.

"Your friends fell asleep too," he said as he turned to them, who were now stirring themselves up, thanks to Ash. "Were you having a nightmare? You were mumbling something."

She merely shook her head as she stood up. "Nope, I'm fine," she chimed. "I'll go and see what Forest is up to," she said as she started to make her way to Drew and Misty, leaving him to stand there alone.

'_You're hiding something,' _he thought as he watched her retrieving body. _'And I'm going to find out what it is.'_

* * *

><p><strong>So that's it for now. I'll try to update as soon as possible! So do you guys think that Brendan and Barry got caught? <strong>

**Review and tell me how you liked it! I'm always glad to read each of your reviews because it means that people actually do read my stories c: So review and I'll love you forever! **


	6. Complications

**Okay, so I have about seven more days to read two books that I'm not completely into for AP Lang. I'm pretty sure I'm getting an F on the first day already. BUT I'M NOT INTERESTED IN MEDIEVAL TIMES! :c So it's not really my fault for my teacher's poor choice of books. She should've just asked us to read The Hunger Games!**

**Anyway, from the reviews, many of you think that Gary's onto the whole team. I need to clear this up here: He doesn't suspect the whole team. He's only suspecting Leaf and I can't give out more because then it'll ruin the story. So let's get started! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Five-Complications<strong>_

It was morning dawn when a sharp cry woke the people of Fortree City. Many had recognized the cry to belong to a skarmory but no one could figure out where the steel bird was since the cry was no where near the city. When the people thought that it was just probably their imaginations, they all went back to their beds.

In the southwest side of town, near some grassy plains, a large dark green dragonfly was attacking the bird. Skarmory had the upper hand at first but started to have complications as the dragonfly started to aim for the pouch in his mouth that held the Red Orb.

"Ancientpower, Yanmega," the female commanded from the ground.

Yanmega cried out her name before her body glowed white and created a silver ball in front of her body. Then she launched the ball at the large steel bird.

Although it did normal damage, it was enough for the bird to cry out in pain, dropping the pouch in the process. The female's partner, a male with lavender hair quickly rushed under the pouch, catching it before the orb fell to the ground. "I got the orb, Jess."

She smirked before returning the dragonfly and sent out a black snake. "Seviper, use Haze," she ordered. The snake cried out his name and then black smoke came out of his mouth, disabling Skarmory to see anything. This gave the two trainers to quickly retrieve back into the fort they were in. When the smoke had finally disappeared, Skarmory was left with nothing around him and noticed that the pouch was gone. Rather than to follow them, the steel bird decided to fly back to Rustboro, where his master was and let him decide what they were to do then.

In the fort, the two snickered maliciously as they took the orb out of the pouch. "We got the Red Orb. Now we just need the Blue Orb and we can finally awaken Groudon and Kyogre."

"We should start heading to Lilycove then," she said before smirking. "We'll rule the world soon enough."

They walked out of the fort, only to be met with black clouds covering the sky. "It's going to rain soon. Maybe we should wait till it blows over," her partner suggested.

She just glared at him. "I'm not going to wait. For all we know, we could be ambushed before we know it."

"But I heard there's going to be a huge rainstorm soon. If we get stuck in it, we're sure to lose the orb in no time since the wind is going to pick up," he defended.

She simply rolled her eyes at him. "Look, I don't care what you say, James. I'm going to go ahead. You can stay for all I care." And with that, she made her way out with her black snake right behind her.

James sighed at her retrieving and looked at the sky again. He knew he'd regret following her but he had no choice. She'd need him eventually, so he just sucked it up and ran after her.

* * *

><p>"Are we there yet?" Dawn asked as she played with her damp black strands. She really wanted to remove the wig but she hasn't been able to done that since the group left for Lilycove because they always slept close to each other and she didn't want to be caught. But since it was raining, she had the biggest urge to just remove it.<p>

Paul, who was leading the group through the rainy route, sighed out in annoyance. They had just gotten off their Pokémon, who had given them the ride to the other side, and he didn't like the fact that was complaining about it. "No, now stop being so annoying and don't start being troublesome," he grunted in irritation. Not only was it her complaining, but he had barely gotten any sleep the night before and the rain was making it even worse as he tried to ignore the dripping from his wet hair.

Dawn pouted and crossed her arms, sticking her tongue out at his back. If only she could struck that dagger into his heart right then and there… But she couldn't do it. Paul was Ash's target and she couldn't just ask Ash to switch targets just because he was irritating her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to her left only to find Misty giving her a small smile.

"Don't worry about him. He tends to act like that when he's cranky," she apprised.

"Don't care too much about his words," Gary said from the front of her. "It's natural for Shadow to be mean anyway so it doesn't matter."

Dawn looked over at her teammates who just shrugged in return, agreeing with Misty and Gary. They didn't seem to mind the rain so much. "Can we at least take a small break? My hair is irritating me and so are my clothes." Her clothes were extremely dank and the fact that it was sticking to her body made it even worse.

"Are you serious?" Drew asked incredulously. "We're in the rain, and we're getting soaked here. How do you expect us to stay here for a break?"

May rolled her eyes at his retort. "I'm pretty sure she meant _after _we get out of this place, Cabbagehead," she defended.

He raised an amused brow at the name she had just called him and smirked, flicking his wet hair. He ditched his spot from next to Gary and walked next to the brunette. "You're seriously insulting an elite? Is that really a smart choice, Michelle?"

"What can you do? Steven won't be so happy when he learns that you've hurt a fellow assassin now will he?"

To her left, Leaf gave her a clandestine high-five. That would shut Drew up. The smirk on his face didn't falter though as he just flicked his hair from his face again. "Don't think you've won this round yet, Hastings. The rain's ruining my hair and it's annoying me." And with that, he walked back to his place next to Gary. Before he did that though, he tossed a red rose towards her direction, which she caught with ease.

"What's that for?" Ash asked quietly.

The brunette shrugged and looked over it, seeing if it's bugged or anything. "Who knows, but I have a feeling that there's some kind tracking device in there or something," she said silently, hoping that none of the assassins were able to hear them. She handed the rose to Leaf to check it out since she had a keen eye.

Leaf looked over the whole thing and even triple-checked every spot. When she didn't find anything whatsoever, she handed it back to May. "There's nothing," she concluded. "It's just an innocent rose."

Dawn gasped lowly. "Could it be that he's interested in you?"

The sapphire eyed girl simply rolled her eyes at the assumption. "Please, he's not stupid enough to break the number one rule of being a thief," she stated. After she said that, she looked down at the rose again, twirling it around her fingers.

* * *

><p>After another hour, the rain had gotten heavier and they had decided to rest up under a large tree. Even though water went through the leaves, it wasn't much and at least it would be large enough for the eight to rest up for the night. The ones with a fire Pokémon sent them out and they kept the trainers warm. Then, they got out their canned food and started to eat it.<p>

"So is there a reason why you guys have to get your mission over with so soon?" Ash finally asked when they had started to chow down. Of course he knew the reason. Leaf had figured it out long ago, but since they were pretending to be assassins, he had to act like one.

"It's none of your business," Paul answered from the furthest spot. He had chosen to stay far away from the group since he preferred the quiet more.

His teammates just shook their heads at their anti-social friend. "Well, we can't really say anything about it but it's just an important one," Misty answered.

"Was it really urgent?" Leaf inquired, curling up inside of her blanket even more as the wind started to pick up.

Gary nodded. "Yeah, it was sudden for us too," he answered. "What's with all these questions?"

The bandits each exchanged a look discreetly. Then Dawn looked at him. "We were just curious since we were woken up in the middle of the night."

After that, they started to talk and learn about each other. Paul though, just stayed silent as he sat the furthest away from the group. Dawn, seeing this, decided to just talk to him. She didn't care if he wasn't her target or not. He was just irking her with the way that he acts. "So why are you so silent all the time?" she asked as she took a seat next to him.

He grunted in response and scooted away from her. "Do you always have to know everything?"

She crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at him, which he ignored completely. "I usually don't care but I hate it when people are always so quiet like you. There must be a reason why you're like this, right?" she questioned curiously.

"It's nothing that you should know," he grunted before setting up his sleeping bag. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep. So stop bothering me, Troublesome."

"My name is Dana," she corrected. She was extremely close to saying her actual name, which would've been bad if that happened. "Is your memory that bad?"

When he didn't respond back, she assumed that he must've fell asleep so she just went back to the group, who were all getting ready to go to sleep, so she decided that she should rest up too.

* * *

><p>It was the middle of the night when Gary woke up from a nightmare. He looked around to see if he had woken anyone up and was glad when he didn't. He noticed that the rain had stopped so he sent out Umbreon, his trusty partner. The moonlight pokémon looked up at his master and cried out his name softly, making sure not to wake anyone up. Gary scratched his back, making Umbreon stretch out in content and purr.<p>

Gary smiled warmly at him and continued doing it since it soothed him whenever he had nightmares. _'That dream,_' he thought. It had been a recurring action that he had a couple of times already yet he could never understand why he was getting them and what the message could be about.

"That girl in my dreams," he murmured silently. Umbreon, sensing that his master wasn't himself, nudged softly at his hand and Gary looked down. "It's nothing to worry about, buddy."

He turned to look at the group, who were all sleeping peacefully. Then he noticed a certain brunette shivering under her sleeping bag. He sighed and brought his blanket up to Leaf, laying it on it. She seemed to have stopped after a minute and that's when he noticed that she was murmuring something incoherent. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's getting nightmares."

He studied her face closely. Since it was dark, he couldn't exactly see her face but he did notice her features. There was something there that made him have a feeling that he knew her from somewhere, but he couldn't place his finger on it. He just knew that there was something that made him feel protective of her. When he saw that she started to move around, he quickly returned to his sleeping bag with Umbreon lying right next to him. Gary looked up at the bright twinkling stars as the flashbacks from his dream raced through his mind.

"How are you doing, Leaf?"

* * *

><p>In the morning, the bandits woke up earlier than the assassins because they had to put back on their makeup to change their looks. The rain had washed it off the day before so they had to cover up their face before any of the assassins were able to recognize them. "We should be able to kill them now," Ash suggested rashly. He had made sure to keep his voice down so they wouldn't wake the others.<p>

"Gary has Umbreon out with him though," Leaf said quietly as she looked over at the sleeping assassins.

"Just put him to sleep with Leafeon," Dawn insinuated.

May sighed as she scanned the sleeping pokémon next to Gary. "I really doubt Umbreon would let Leafeon attack him just like that," she stated. "We can't be too confident about killing these guys."

"But they're asleep, so they're vulnerable," Dawn defended.

They each exchanged a look and sighed, agreeing that Dawn had a good point. So they finished up their cover and went back to the campsite, only to find everyone stirring themselves awake. "Why're you all up so early?" Misty inquired.

"We're just used to it," Leaf lied flawlessly. "Anyway, are we having breakfast before we start travelling again?" She went to her sleeping bag and started to clean up her part until she came across another blanket.

The assassins shrugged. "I don't really care," Paul answered.

"Well who's hungry?" Drew was done with cleaning up his spot already and was prepared to hit the road. He, like Paul, just wanted to get the mission over with.

May and Ash's hand shot up almost instantly at the question. "Then you two can eat while we travel," Gary planned as he returned Umbreon. Then he went up to a confused Leaf and tapped on her shoulder. "That's my blanket in case you were wondering."

She raised a questioning brow at him as she handed it to him, perfectly folded. "And how did it get to me?"

"I woke up in the middle of the night and saw that you were shivering so I just gave it to you. You're welcome," he answered before returning to his backpack to put it away.

Dawn appeared next to her with a questioning look and the brunette just shrugged. "Well, we should get going now."

And with that, the gang started to make their way through the thick grasses. It was mostly quiet on the way there with a few side conversations.

"So, Zach," Misty started as she took a place next to him, "are you excited to watch the mission when we arrive at our destination?"

He nodded and grinned at her. "Yeah, I'm excited to see how this is all going to go down," he said excitingly. Although he was said to be dense, his acting skills weren't bad at all. "Can we join too or are we just going to watch?"

She giggled. "I guess you four will have to watch since you're all new. Our targets shouldn't be taken lightly, so I think it's best you four just watch from afar."

He would've argued back but he had to watch his mouth before he said anything he shouldn't have. "Alright then."

* * *

><p>"Shit, someone else got the orb. What do we do now?" Barry asked Brendan. The blond boy then returned the steel bird before settling down on his bed.<p>

Brendan shrugged. "I guess we go after it. It'd be worse if those crooks are planning to steal the Blue Orb from Lucy as well. So it's best if we warn her."

Barry immediately sent a message to her upon hearing the plan. "Okay, so are we going after them now?"

He nodded before sending out Swellow out the window. "We better get going," he suggested as he jumped onto the bird's back.

Barry sent out his steel bird again before jumping onto his back. They both looked around, seeing if anyone would catch them. When they saw that there was no one, they quickly flew off. And just when they flew off, the alarm went off.

Brendan smirked with Barry by his side. "They've found the decoy."

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so I tried not to rush things which would explain why it was a pretty short chapter. Hopefully next chapter will be when the action starts, unless you guys feel that it's rushed or anything. JUST LEAVE IT IN THE REVIEW! As you can see, I added a few moments so hopefully that's okay.<strong>

**Hm, I don't think I'll be done reading within six days so I think I'll just use those remaining days to update or something. LMAO, I can see that my grades are down the drains already cx **

**Review and tell me how it was! I really love it when I read your different opinions because I'll know what I should improve on and so on. I mean, people favorite and alert but I need to know if I'm doing something right. It's not that hard, is it? So review and make me happy!**


	7. Discovery

**Hey, guys, I'm back for another update! I know it's been a while but as you all know, school's been a total pain. BUT, I passed my written exam for driving just two days ago (Friday) so I wanted to type up a new chapter. It would've been up sooner but I've been dealing with personal issues lately and crying can really wear a person out. So yeah, if you guys are curious about this personal issue, then feel free to PM me. I really don't mind since I really need someone to talk to right now. **

**ANYWAY, I know I've been trying to not rush this story, but there's really nothing I can put in the middle since the distance isn't so far from Rustboro and Lilycove. Please don't hate me if you feel that this story is going by a rush!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Six-Discovery<strong>_

The gang was walking along the route that would lead to the next city, Fortree City. Unfortunately, another storm had picked up so they had no other choice but to stay in the weather institution, who everyone there welcomed warmly. The workers offered towels for them to dry off, which they accepted gratefully and also enjoyed the food that was served.

After they finished, they had all dispersed into their separate groups. The assassins were at one part of the building while the bandits were at the lounge, discussing about their plan and when they're going to go into action.

"We have to finish them off soon," May stated. She sighed and as she leaned back onto the arm of the couch. "I mean, we're one city away from Lilycove and Lucy can't see them still alive."

Ash and Dawn nodded in agreement. "Yeah, May has a good point. Leaf, when are we going to kill them?" Dawn inquired quietly. She had her dagger out to check out if she had to sharpen it anymore than she had to.

The brunette sighed as she put her head down on the table. She had tried so many times to think of a plan but it would only result in her getting a headache. And now that she's been receiving weird dreams, it made it even harder for the brunette to come up with a full proof plan. She sighed again in annoyance. Then she snapped her fingers, surprising her teammates. "Okay, I think I know how we can start with the killing."

"What's the plan?" Ash questioned as Pikachu sat on his shoulder, ready to hear the plan.

"I notice that you and Misty seem to be getting along pretty well, Ash, right?" she asked. He nodded slowly, still unsure of her plan. "That's perfect then. That means that she's slowly warming up to you and her guard is always down whenever you two are talking to you each other."

"I get it now," Dawn piped from the seat next to May. "You want Ash to kill Misty because they're already pretty good friends, right?"

Leaf nodded in confirmation and turned to the raven haired boy and noticed the hesitant look on his face. "What wrong, Ash? You didn't fall for her already, did you?"

He snapped from his trance and shook his head in denial. "Of course not, Leaf. It's just that, isn't Misty May's target? Why am I taking the kill?"

"Because it'd be weird if I just talked to her when we're not really as close yet," May answered from her seat. "But if you talked to her, it would be a natural thing. I can take Paul on."

"Exactly," Leaf confirmed. "So, you up for the challenge, Ash?"

He bit his tongue to hold back his reasoning. He knew that if he was to say something that would postpone the killing would only make it seem like he had grown onto the enemy. He just didn't feel comfortable able killing females. "Can May just do it though? You guys should know about how I feel about killing females, regardless of what they are."

Leaf sighed as she took a seat next to Ash, hand patting his shoulder. "We know, Ash. That's why we want you to do this. You have to overcome that obstacle eventually. Don't you think it'll be better if you do it now?"

Because he knew that there was no use in trying to argue back, Ash just sighed and nodded. "Okay, fine. Am I doing it now?"

"The sooner you do it, the better," Dawn sighed. She understood what kind of position he was in right now and she would say something if it wasn't for the fact that Misty was the enemy.

May went through his backpack and dug out his steel dagger, handing it to him. "Here, try not to make it look too suspicious," she advised.

He simply nodded as he stood up from his seat and setting Pikachu down at the seat. He figured that leaving his partner would take Misty's suspicion off of him being their target. And without a single word, he was out of the lounge to look for Misty.

* * *

><p>Around the same time the bandits were having their meeting, the assassins were doing the exact same thing. They spaced out in one of the rooms of the institute.<p>

"So how are we going to sneak in when we get to Lilycove?" Gary asked as he spun one of the throwing stars between his fingers.

Drew narrowed his eyes at his friend as he was pulling the careless move. "Put that away, idiot. Any of the scientists here can walk in on us."

Gary simply waved it off. "No need to worry about that. If they walk in, just kill them."

"We don't kill innocent people, moron," Paul informed. "We're in this whole team to protect the citizens of Hoenn."

As the two started to reason with each other, Drew noticed that Misty was glancing out at the rain, not caring if they were fighting or not. He decided take a seat next to her and waited for her to turn her attention to him.

It didn't take long, just like how he had assumed. "What's up, Drew," she greeted.

He gestured to a riled up Gary and a calm Paul as the two continued to exchange words. "You'd usually step in by now with that mallet of yours. What's wrong?"

She offered a small smile as she looked out at the pouring rain again. "Today's the day," she said quietly to herself.

He was confused at first but quickly caught on as he remembered. Being an assassin can't be just given to someone random. They had to have a reason for joining. So when the four of them –Drew, Gary, Misty and Paul- were accepted, they told each other the reason why they were there.

Drew gave her a pat on her shoulder and a reassuring smile. "Try not to think about it too much, okay? I know it's hard not to, but you're the Misty Waterflower. You're an elite. So don't let something like that bother you too much."

She smiled and nodded. "Don't worry, I won't." She looked out the window again and spotted someone down there. "I'm going to go down for a while." Then she looked at Gary and Paul, who were still going at it. "While I'm doing that, separate those two before one of them gets their head ripped off by each other."

Drew chuckled. "Yeah, Steven wouldn't be happy if that happened," he joked.

She gave a half-heartedly laugh and got up, heading for the door. "I'll be back in fifteen or so."

* * *

><p>Outside, Ash stood in the rain, pondering how he's going to go through with the plan. He didn't want to, but if he didn't, then he and his teammates would be in for it. He sighed and just when that was let out, he felt that the rain wasn't pelting him anymore. He looked up and saw a blue umbrella covering him. Next to him, was the one person he was hoping he wouldn't see.<p>

"Aqua," he greeted meekly.

She gave him a warm smile. "Why're you out in the rain? Aren't you afraid to catch a cold?"

He shrugged at the comment. "I'll live," he said evenly. He started to make his way towards the edge of the bridge, looking down at the water. "Why're you out here?"

Misty walked over to him and shared half of the umbrella with him. "I saw you from the room I was in and well, I didn't want one of our trainees to get sick during a mission." When he only nodded at the explanation, she looked at him and noticed that he had a blank expression on his face. "Were you just thinking?"

Hearing this snapped him out of his thoughts and he turned his attention to her. "Oh, yeah, I was just thinking about some things."

The orange haired teen studied his face as he looked down at the water. There must be reason why he's so silent. He's usually really talkative. Then she figured that it must have to do with his past, just like her situation.

"Why did you decide to join us?" she inquired.

Hearing the question definitely surprised him. What was he suppose to tell her? Leaf never told them they had to have a back story. Maybe he had to tell her why he chose to become a bandit then. He sighed as he remembered the day he left Pallet to become a bandit.

"When I was five, my father was murdered. For me to experience something like that at such a young age, it was traumatizing. I loved my dad a lot. He taught me that I should always respect girls, no matter what, and that they're just as equal as us guys."

Misty smiled. "He sounds like a great guy."

"He was," Ash confirmed. "That's why when he died, I had to do everything I can to protect my mother. I knew that they were after me. My father was just trying to protect me and was k-killed in the process." At the mention of that faithful day, his voice cracked. "That's why I left home to become an assassin. I knew that once they found us again, they'd go after my mother."

"Oh, Zach." Misty immediately dropped her umbrella and pulled Ash into a hug. She ran her hand up and down his back as she tried to soothe him. "It's okay, Zach. Something similar like that happened to me too. That's why I became an assassin."

They stayed into the embrace as Misty tried to soothe him. "Ten years from today, bandits broke into the Cerulean Gym and murdered my parents. They were strong trainers, my parents. And they were also strong assassins. They were murdered because the bandits saw them as a threat." She sniffed as it was now her turn to be comforted. "My sisters ran away as soon as they saw the bandits invade into our house, leaving just me. My parents were able to save me though. But it was because of me they were also killed.

"My sisters blamed their deaths on me and I don't blame them. It's true that it was all because of me that they're dead. I-"

"No, it's not your fault," Ash interrupted. "You couldn't help it. You were scared, right? That's why you were frozen there, right?"

"That's the point, Zach. If I wasn't such a coward, I would've been able to run away with my sisters and my parents would still be alive today." By now, she had broken down to sobs and started to cry into Ash's shoulder.

'_Her guard's down now,'_ his conscious told him. _'Go for the kill now.' _

Hesitantly and discreetly, Ash brought the steel dagger out from his pocket. Before positioning it to her back, he remembered that she was able to see him from her room. That meant that Drew and the others would be able to see them as well. So he looked up and scanned all the windows to make sure that there weren't any figures looking down. When he didn't see any, he figured that the girls must've distracted the guys the moment they saw Misty exit out the building.

He positioned the dagger to her heart from the back and when he got the angles corrected, he took a deep breath and was ready to plunge the sharp point to her heart. But something stopped him. Ash looked ahead of him and saw a middle aged man standing there, smiling softly at him.

"_Remember Ash, girls are just as strong as guys are. I mean, just look at your mother.' _

Ash blinked a couple of times as he tried to get the image out of his head. No, he was a bandit. A top elite one, to be exact. That meant that he shouldn't allow personal issues distract him from his mission. His hand started to shake and he felt himself losing control of the dagger. So he quickly brought it back into his pocket and break away from Misty, running further away from her.

She was a bit hurt by his actions so when she saw that he was running away, she chased after him, not caring if she was going to catch a cold or not.

"Zach, wait up," she called. When she saw that he had stopped, she quickened her pace and stopped next to him. "What wrong?"

When he didn't respond back, she followed his gaze to see what had caught his interest. Her eyes widened as she saw what he was looking at.

Although it was dark and mostly water in their sight, it was no brain teaser to know what the object was. At the bottom, lying on the grassy patch next to the waterfall, was something unexpected. The bright violet color did not go unnoticed along with its two gold stripes at the tip. Misty had her mouth agape as she stared at it along with Ash.

"That's the legendary claw that the bandits stole from us assassins years ago," she whispered.

Ash nodded in agreement with her but realized something. "But if the bandits stole it, why would it be here? Shouldn't it be with them at their headquarters?"

She simply shrugged. "I don't know, but I suggest we get it to make sure it's the real one."

"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip and pick up that claw," Ash commanded as he sent out one of his strongest team.

The young green dinosaur cried out his name before summoning vines from his bulb and down the claw. The vines wrapped around the claw and he picked it up, handing it to Ash, who examined it with Misty. Ash returned Bulbasaur back into his ball and the two scanned over it.

"So is it the real one?" he inquired curiously.

Her brows furrowed as she squinted her eyes to see it. "It's hard to tell with all the clouds and rain. Let's get a better look inside."

The two went back to pick up the abandoned umbrella and Misty closed it, slipping the claw inside to prevent anyone from seeing it.

* * *

><p>When they arrived back into the room where the guys were at, Leaf, May, and Dawn were there as well. They sent Misty and Ash curious looks when they saw their soaked friends standing at the doorway.<p>

"Why are you soaked from head to toe?" Drew questioned.

The two ignored the question and only took a seat in the middle of the room, motioning everyone else to sit around them, which they obliged to. The girls sent Ash a questioning look as to why Misty was still alive, but he only shrugged at them.

Once everyone settled around them, Misty and Ash exchanged looks, silently asking each other who should tell them the news. "So what's so important?" Leaf asked as she leaned back, arms propping her up.

"Do you guys remember how bandits and assassins came to hate each other?" Misty asked the group.

They all nodded. "Bandits were accused of stealing the legendary Timeless claw from the assassins," Leaf stated as if she was a book.

"Why?" May tilted her head to the left as she asked the question.

Misty sighed as she reached her hand into the umbrella and pulled out the violet claw. The teens around the circle gasped in shock at the sight of it.

"T-that's the-"

"The claw," Paul finished for Dawn. He ignored the glare she threw at him for finishing her sentence and motioned for Misty to continue.

"The problem is that we don't know if it's the real one. So we need Forest or Alice to examine it since you two are the smartest out of all of us." Misty looked down at the claw and studied it.

Upon hearing his name, Drew whipped out his laptop and started to type furiously on it. Leaf held out her hand, asking for the claw, which Misty did. The brunette looked over it and wiped away all the dirt that was on it.

"It looks like it's been out for a long time. It's really dirty." She frowned as mud started to stain her hands. Then, a towel appeared in front of her and she looked up.

"Using a towel will help prevent your hands from getting dirty, you know," he teased lightly as she accepted the while towel.

She only rolled her eyes and started to wipe it clean. She made her way over to Drew and talk over it with him. "Well, this is all I can do for now. It looks like the real thing. What do you think, Forest?"

He looked at the picture on the screen of his laptop and then clicked on the tab next to it to read about the information. "Well, since it was stolen a long time ago, there's not really much information on it. But judging from the looks of it, I don't think it was stolen at all. At least not by the bandits."

She raised a questioning brow at him. "Oh? And why do you say that?"

He flicked the fringe that was getting in his way. "Even from the rain, you were able to get most of the dirt off if it, but not all of it, right?" She nodded. "Then it must've been at the place where Aqua and Zach found for a long time already. Not only that, but if it was really stolen by the bandits, then shouldn't it be at their headquarters right now?"

She bit her lip as the words processed in her mind. She understood what he was saying, but everything was just jumbled up at the moment. She furrowed her brow as she looked down at the claw. "Then that means that whoever stole it must have wanted war between assassins and bandits. But who could've done it and what would they have gain from all of it?"

Drew sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "That, is one question we'll have to learn."

Just as he said that, Leaf's communicator with the bandits went off on vibrate and she immediately felt it. She excused herself from the group with the bandits and they exited the room, making sure they were gone from an earshot.

"What's wrong, Lucy?" May asked as they arrived in a secluded area.

"T-the Blue Orb…" Lucy stammered. "It's gone. Someone stole it."

* * *

><p><strong>Woah, who would've guessed that the legendary claw wasn't actually stolen? Haha, but it was probably obvious from the Prologue. JUST SO YOU KNOW, IT WAS KINDA HINTED THAT THEY DIDN'T STEAL IT. Did anyone catch that in the beginning of the story? C; <strong>

**Anyway, I was going to have Misty discover Ash as a bandit but I thought it was too soon so I was like, NAH. Haha, maybe next chapter? Maybe not. Depends. **

**Sigh, I miss writing stories so much. I'm hoping that I can continue soon! So until then, please review and tell me how it was! I loooove reading your thoughts. It lets me know that I'm doing something right c: SO REVIEW! **


	8. Past Story

**Hello there my lovelies! Wow, so how long has it been? It's been like THREE MONTHS! That is just sad and I feel terrible for leaving this story for so long. I just thought that no one was interesting in this story anymore due the lack of enthusiasm from the last chapter. But I am determined to finish this story regardless. **

**ANYWAY, now that I'm all caught up with Fairy Tail, I actually have time to update again! Hopefully now my updates wouldn't take so long anymore. Now, onto the chapter!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Seven-Past Story<strong>_

A loud clap of thunder brought the bandits out of their train of thoughts. After Lucy had explained the problem, the four excused themselves from the meeting and went back to their part of the building. Leaf had also brought the claw with her to do further examinations, which was perfectly fine with Drew since he wasn't exactly in the mood to do research on the weapon itself.

"You don't think that it's another group of assassins, do you?" Ash asked quietly as he looked down towards Pikachu, who was resting peacefully on his owner's lap.

The gang shifted their attention to the long haired brunette who had her head in between her two hands, staring down at the table and the claw in front of her. She shook her head in response to Ash's question. "It can't be," she confirmed. "Steven didn't mention any other group to get it other than these four. There's no way he would send out another party. Moreover, even if he did send another group after we left with the assassins, they couldn't have made it to Lilycove before us."

"Unless they were using flying Pokémon," Dawn interjected.

May nodded in agreement. "Dawn's right," she said. "If we can make it in about a day, that other group can do it as well."

Leaf shook her head, refusing to believe that it was true. She was one that would usually go with the idea if it was logical, but this plan didn't make sense to her. It may have made sense to her team, but Leaf, the more logical part of the group, was not going to accept a reason with no back up evidence at all.

"Lucy said that the culprit was a Pokémon?" she clarified. The three nodded and her eyebrows scrunched up to a scowl. "She said it was a meowth too," she added. "That's strange. Why would something like that need the orb?"

Upon hearing this, the room had become pin silent. The four of them exchanged looks as Leaf continued to think of the logical explanation for all of this.

"Remember when Barry and Brendan killed off the assassins and took their orb?" Dawn finally asked. When everyone nodded, she continued. "Do you think they found out and sent out a second group to retrieve it?"

"But Steven would've contacted these guys rather than send out another group of assassins, right?" May informed. "I mean, they are the strongest team."

"May has a good point," Leaf piped up. "Did Lucy manage to get a recording of the thieves?"

The bandits were high in security when it came to protecting to Blue Orb, so the leaders made sure to add hidden cameras that could not be hacked or be detected in any way around the orb. It had proven to have worked when many crooks have been caught.

Ash nodded and tossed her his communicator, which had a video present. The brunette clicked on the play button and watched intently with the others to see who had invaded headquarters and who had stolen the Blue Orb.

Though they were sneaky enough to not get caught in the camera, their shadows and voices gave them away. Leaf paused when she saw a clear shot of the shadows and blew it up before zooming in to get a better look. She stared at the shadow and tried to remember where she had seen that huge of a hair before.

"Do you guys remember seeing someone with that kind of hairstyle before?" she inquired as she turned it for the three to see.

Dawn racked her brain for that name. She knew she saw that before, but where? Then it hit her. "It's Jessie of Team Rocket!" she cried. "I remember seeing them on the news because they attempted to steal Robert's Pokémon once."

"You mean Top Coordinator Robert?" Leaf questioned. When Dawn nodded, the brunette looked at the communicator again. She pursed her lips and scrunched her eyebrows again. "Why would Team Rocket want the Blue Orb? It's not like they know how to use it or anything." Then her eyes widened as she remembered one certain group that has been after the orb for some time now. "You guys don't think they're working for Team Aqua now, do you?"

Upon saying the team name, her head started to pound as flashbacks started to go off through her head. She clutched her head in pain and bit back the scream she had. She knew that if she scream, it would cause attention and everyone would come to her aid. Instead, she placed her head down on the table while holding the pounding head. Her three friends abruptly got to her side and tried to comfort her, but with no avail.

"Leaf, what's wrong?" May asked in a motherly tone.

_The little brunette was thrown in a dark prison cell while the grunts laughed maliciously at her as she sobbed. "This is pathetic," one of them said. "Why would we need someone like her? She's just a little girl." _

"_Well, according to Archie, she's going to be our key to awaken Kyogre." From the first person, this one sounded much crueler. The person then proceeded to enter and kicked the brunette. "Quit crying already," she demanded. "It's annoying." _

Tears started to fall from Leaf's eyes as the blurry images played in her head like an old video on replay. "Make it stop," she sobbed as she bit back another scream.

Dawn, seeing how much pain her friend was, informed Ash and May that she was going to get the assassins to help. Although they were hesitant about it, they thought that maybe, just maybe, they would be able to help. So they nodded in approval and she hurriedly rushed off to find the gang.

_Green eyes shot around the place as the little girl tried to figure out where she was. This new place was brighter than the cell she had been in for the last three days, so seeing so many lights was something she had to adjust to. In front of her was the leader of the group. He smirked upon seeing her terrified face. "Well now, is this any way to look at your new owner?" _

Leaf's eyes shut closed as she tried to make all the thoughts go away. Then, she gave in. Leaf let out a cry of pain and allowed her tears to fall down onto the table.

"Vileplume, use Sleep Powder," Drew called.

The blue bipedal Pokémon cried out her name before shaking the huge flower that sat on her head. Instantly, indigo powder came out and went to Leaf, putting the brunette to sleep immediately.

"What happened?" Gary inquired as he made his way toward Leaf. He saw the tears and wiped them away with his thumb before turning his attention back to the gang. Seeing her like that made his stomach churn. Even though he barely knew the girl, he felt horrible to see her in that state. And he hoped that he would never have to see it again.

"We don't know," May answered as she recovered from Leaf's outbreak. "She just suddenly started to clutch her head and cried for us to make it stop. We don't know what though."

Drew frowned as he returned his Pokémon. "Just suddenly?"

They nodded. "We couldn't calm her down," Ash said sadly. "We could only watch her in pain in agony. We didn't know what to do since this is her first time going through this." Misty placed a comforting hand on his shoulder to reassure him that everything was going to be fine.

Paul raised an eyebrow at this. "So this is her first time getting a headache this bad?" They nodded at his question and he turned his attention to the claw that rested not far away from Leaf. "Did anything strange happen to the claw?"

They shook their heads. "Why does this concern the claw?" Ash inquired curiously.

The assassins looked at Drew, who sighed and flicked his fringe away from his face. "As you guys may know already, this is the Timeless Claw," he explained. They nodded in response and he continued. "Although there was little to no information on this weapon, I did manage to find something interesting on this claw."

"Which is…?" May raised an eyebrow.

Drew shot her a looked that told her that he was getting there. "If activated correctly, this claw can show the user their past," he elucidated. "I'm not so sure how since this was the only information I found, but from the looks of it, it seemed that your friend, Alice, just activated it."

They bit their lips upon hearing this. "But nothing happened," May defended. "No light or anything happened to it, so how could it have been activated."

"We're not sure what happens when it is activated though," Misty retorted. "We just know that if done correctly, it will work. We just don't know if it will light up or do something else."

Drew nodded in confirmation. "The claw itself is old enough already. Since it's been gone for centuries already, there's no definite proof that it still works now." He sighed and headed towards the door. "Let's leave now. We should let her rest." Hesitantly, the bandits left, but not without a last look back at Leaf.

Gary on the other hand, discreetly took the claw and brought it with him. He was going to do his own research to learn more about the weapon. Maybe there was something that Drew missed in the reading. Either way, he wasn't going to have someone get hurt like how it did to the brunette today.

While they were leaving, Drew saw the look on May's face and slowed down to her pace. "Your friend's going to be fine," he assured. "Vileplume's Sleep Powder usually wears off in an hour or so."

She sighed. "I know, but it's just, this is the first time she broke like that. I'm scared that it may happen again."

He smirked and flicked the fringe from his face before handing her another red rose. "Don't worry, Michelle. She's a strong girl, so I'm sure she'll be fine." And without anything else, he walked ahead and allowed Ash and Dawn to talk to her while he left to talk to Misty and Paul.

"Another one?" Dawn raised an eyebrow as she saw the rose. "Is he interested in you?"

May simply shook her head. "No, Dana, he's not." May looked down at the rose and twirled it in between her fingers.

'_He can't be. He's an assassin and I'm a bandit.'_

* * *

><p>When Leaf finally woke up, her head hurt. She felt as if she hit a rock and then fainted. But she knew that wasn't the case. The girl remembered everything that happened earlier and it was not something she wanted to recall in that moment. Just the thought of it sent shivers down her spine.<p>

"Well you're finally awake," a voice teased.

The brunette girl turned her attention to the teen next to her and frowned. "What are you doing here, Auburn?" Leaf then looked around for her teammates. "Where's everyone else?"

"Don't worry. They're resting already," he answered. "What happened to you?"

She bit her lip and shifted her attention away from him. She then decided to settle with the table. How was she going to explain this to the enemy? "I don't know." She wasn't lying exactly. Leaf may have remembered that little outcry from earlier but she didn't know what happened. "My head just started to hurt a lot." She decided to leave out the whole flashbacks thing since it was something she had to figure out first. Besides, he was the enemy. There's no way she was going to allow him to know.

Gary looked at the claw in his hands and then back up at Leaf, who was shifting around in her seat. He had done a little research before heading back to watch her. Maybe he could get some answers from her. "Did you also see some flashbacks of your past?"

Upon hearing this, the brunette stopped and looked at him, shock in her eyes. Did he figure it out? No, she thought. He couldn't have. So, she decided to play it safe. "What are you talking about?"

He sighed and placed the claw in front of her. "This claw has the ability to let the user see into their past. I was just wondering if that happened to you," he explained. When Leaf didn't say anything, he sighed again. "I know we don't know each other very well, so it's fine if you don't trust me enough to tell me the whole thing."

Leaf nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you for that," she replied. "But, I really don't know what happened," she admitted, catching his attention. She looked down at her hands and continued on. "I mean the things I saw, I don't ever remember it happening to me at all."

Upon hearing this, Gary started to grow curious. Something she didn't remember at all? So does that mean that she lost her memory and has been living without even knowing she lost it?

"What do you mean you don't remember it happening to you?"

She simply shrugged. "I don't know. I just saw things that I don't ever remember going through. Maybe I saw the past of someone else?"

"Do you remember what it was about?"

She thought for a while as she tried to recall what it was that it was. "A little girl," she answered. "She was held captive in a prison cell and she was abused."

Gary's eyes lit slightly as he heard this. _'Could this be?' _"How did the little girl look like?" he asked, almost too hopefully.

Leaf noticed this alright but didn't say anything. Instead, she tried to remember how the little girl looked like. Unlike before, it was blurry. She shook her head. "I can't remember," she responded honestly. "It's too vague for me now." And just like that, the spark disappeared from his eyes. He knew that getting his hopes up were hopeless. Leaf saw the change and got curious. "Why do you want to know so badly?"

It got quiet as Gary looked down on the table. "It's nothing," he replied silently.

But the brunette wasn't going to be fooled. She was smarter and she wasn't going to accept that simple of an answer. "Obviously not," she retorted. "Come on, spill."

Gary sighed and hesitantly met her eyes. Her pool of blue eyes was so trusting and soft that it made him want to tell her. Well, she was a member of the team, so he could trust her, right? He sighed again and gulped before telling her his story.

"So in you know that to become an assassin, we are either accepted due to harsh childhoods, or by wanting to accomplish something, right?" Leaf nodded. "Well, I joined because when I was a kid, my best friend was kidnapped." Leaf gasped and he nodded to confirm it. Then he took a couple of deep breaths before continuing on. The brunette figured that this next part was probably the hardest for him to tell. "I was useless. I couldn't do anything to protect her." When he said that, his voice cracked.

Leaf placed a consoling hand on his shoulder, silently telling him that he didn't have to continue it any further. "It's okay, Auburn. You were just a kid, right? You shouldn't put the blame on yourself."

"But I swore I'd always protect her!" he retorted. "I always told her that I was a strong boy. I always told her that she could always count on me no matter what. But in the end, I couldn't do a single thing because she was kidnapped. I allowed something like that to happen to her. How is it not my fault?" Leaf looked sadly at him and continued to soothe him. "I later learned that it was Team Aqua that kidnapped her. And that's when I became an assassin. I swore that I would get her back, even if it costs my life."

Leaf smiled gently as he said it. It was so brave, so firm, and so assuring that it made her believe that he would really sacrifice his life for her. "She must be very special to you." She knew that it wasn't the time to comfort him, but what was she to do? He would give his life to safe his best friend. Leaf knew that it was wrong to pity him, especially because he was the enemy, but she couldn't get herself to do it. Although her dagger was just strapped to her knee, which was being covered, she didn't have the heart to kill him yet.

Upon hearing this, he smiled. "Yeah…she was."

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><p><strong>Okay, so I planned that if I will probably have feature a main couple for each chapter with a little of the others until I feel like it's time for the truth to be revealed. <strong>

**Haha, the title is actually the title of one of my favorite Fairy Tail soundtrack. HAHA, I love all the soundtracks, honestly. But this one, I felt, really fit with the chapter, especially towards the end when Gary was explaining his story. So you should listen to it and tell me what you think c:**

**To be honest, I was going to make Gary reveal that it was Leaf that was his childhood friend, but I was like, "Nah, not now." AHAHAHHAA, I'M HORRIBLE. It's like I enjoy having them forget stuff. BUT ANYWAY. POKE AND OLDRIVAL CHAPTERS ARE DONE. IKARI AND CONTEST NEXT. WHICH SHALL IT BE?! **

**Review please! I would love to read your thoughts on the chapter! I'm not going to lie. This is probably my favorite one by far. LOL. So yeah, review! And hopefully I won't be gone for too long again. **


	9. Discovered

**Super long time, I know, but I'm trying to get my writing mojo back again! It's been a long time since I last updated this story and I'm really hoping you guys are still hanging around. I mean, I would really love to see the same people still reading this story. Of course, new readers are welcomed (: **

**READ THE BOTTOM AUTHORS NOTE FOR IMPORTANT STUFF.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.**

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Eight-Discovered<strong>_

While Gary stayed with Leaf in the other room, the rest of the gang decided to go back to where the assassins were at before the event with Leaf happened. Misty and Ash had decided to talk in order to get to know each other more, while Drew and Paul had their own little space with May and Dawn doing the same thing.

"I really hope Alice is fine," Dawn said after a while. "I mean, this is the first time that it had ever happened and it looked really bad."

May gave her a small smile and tried to sooth her by pulling her into a hug. Out of the whole bandits association, the four of them was the only group who had the strongest bond with each other. They each cared for each other as if they were real family since they all knew what had happened in order for each of them to become a bandit.

"Don't worry, Dana. She's a strong girl. I'm sure she'll be fine after resting," the brunette reassured.

As she comforted Dawn, her sapphire eyes wandered off to where Ash and Misty sat. The two were slowly getting closer and closer. It was painfully obvious that the two were getting closer and closer and soon, they'll trust each other and sooner or later, one of them will fall for the other, breaking the thief code. But, it could also be a tactic to gain her trust, which would ultimately lead to her demise.

It could've been one or the other.

She sighed in frustration as she saw even Pikachu taking a liking to Misty. Now she really wished Leaf was up and running again to see if they should make the move to kill now.

Her sapphire eyes then wandered off to the talking teens, who were talking on the other side of the room. Whatever they were talking about, it must've been important if they had to stand so far away to talk about it. Though, could it have been that important that they were not telling Misty about it?

When Drew caught May stare at them, he simply smirked and flicked his fringe before making his way over to her and Dawn with Paul following not far behind. Though he as trying his hardest to not show it, it was clear he didn't want to be involved with them. May knew he wasn't trying at all.

Upon reaching the two girls, Drew shot May an arrogant look and greeted Dawn normally.

"What do you need, Hastings?" the green headed assassin questioned.

May cursed herself for leading him over. Now she would have to come up with something she wanted to know, even though she wasn't interested or he would make fun of her for looking at him. And she was not in the mood for teasing from him.

"We wanted to know more about the Timeless Claw," Dawn lied, noticing that May was taking a while to respond.

Drew sighed and took a seat besides them, prompting Paul to do the same since he really had nothing else to do.

"Well, as you saw already, it has the ability to bring the on back to a certain part of his or her life. It's obviously just a flashback, but it's strong enough to hold that person in place while the user has the advantage to strike. Though it's a brilliant strategy, it isn't something that could be mastered by anybody."

Drew went to get a couple of files from a table and brought it back, showing it to May and Dawn, who quickly skimmed through it. When he saw that they finished, he continued.

"If the user plans to use it again his opponents, he would have to be highly intelligent in order to be able to figure out the trigger word to activate it on his opponents. Because this claw is able to bring its opponents back to a certain point, there are trigger words that bring the person back to the event that relates to the word. In other words, it could only be used if the user is a high leveled assassin. The fact that Alice was able to use it means that she's just as high of a level as we are."

As that was said, he decided that it was enough information since he saw that the two needed some time to digest the new piece of material they had just learned. Because Paul had already read through the files, he only sat and waited for the three to be done with their conversation. After a few minutes, May looked up again.

"Wait, does that mean that it's not able to store throwing stars to launch at the opponents?"

Upon hearing this, Drew smirked and flicked the fringe that had been in his way.

"The hell would I know," he answered coolly. "I may be the smartest of the group, but that doesn't mean that I can find all the information needed. Besides, these are from head quarters. I filled Steven in all that was happening and asked for the information. Needless to say, he immediately sent me the files." He sighed. "Now I wish Alice was fine again. She's much smarter so it would've been interesting to talk to her about this."

May's face immediately fumed red as she heard what he had just said.

"Are you implying something here?"

And from there, the two started a small argument. Most of the arguing came from May while Drew would nonchalantly reply back with a cocky comment, smirk, and fringe flick. He knew it got on her nerves. That's why he was doing it.

While they did that, it left Dawn and Paul out of the gang. Because it was starting to irk him, Paul grumpily stood up and went back to the other side of the room while Dawn only watched. Since she didn't want to look like the awkward person, she decided to approach him to make some small talk.

Upon seeing her arrive, he grunted as she took a seat next to him.

"They sure get along well, don't they," she commented sarcastically, implying it towards May and Drew.

He merely shrugged and muttered, "Hm."

"I've never met anyone who could get on Michelle's nerves. In fact, she's usually like most of us. Calm and collected. I guess you can say we're all pretty similar. We're just like family…"

Dawn knew he couldn't care less about what she was saying. It said so in his information sheet that he didn't care about other people besides himself and possibly his teammates. But seeing as she was basically the only one who hasn't been all that close to an assassin, she had to do something to gain his trust.

"You lost a loved one before, haven't you?" she finally asked after looking at him. "That's why you joined the assassin team."

He stayed silent and the bluenette studied his face. She knew that she had hit a sensitive part, so she had to something before he lashes out on her for mentioning it.

"I lost a loved one too," she started, looking down on the floor. "My father was a top assassin and fell in love with my mother, who was a coordinator at that time. Because of that, he left the assassins in order to find a job to support the family since I was on my way into becoming their daughter. It was the best family I could ever as for," she reminisced happily. "But that didn't last long.

"I was five when that incident happened. We were in a secluded part of the town we were in and my mother was three months pregnant. Out of nowhere, we were ambushed. My mother was pushed down the stairs were descending from, resulting in her losing the baby since were up at least two stories worth of stairs while my father tried to protect us. Apparently he knew some things about the assassins that were supposed to be helpful for them, so they knocked him out and took him back with them. At that time, I didn't know who they were; but now I know. They were members of Team Magma, trying to get him to spill some important information. I haven't seen him since."

Upon finishing her story, tears started to drip down Dawn's perfect porcelain cheeks. Everything she said had been true. It was the sole reason why she became a bandit instead of an assassin; because she was scared that they would come after her. Her mother was obviously against the idea, but after many discussions, she agreed to it.

As she tried to wipe her tears away, a tissue was produced in front of her. She took it, but not before looking up to see who it was.

"If the rest of them see this, they'll only assume that I was the one who made you cry," Paul murmured quietly.

Dawn giggled softly and gladly accepted the tissue, silently thanking him for it.

_Maybe he isn't so bad after all._

"You were right, by the way," he added after a while, catching her off guard. "Except I lost both my parents."

The bluenette noiselessly gasped upon hearing it. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze, meaning he didn't have to continue.

"Don't worry about it," he finally said. "I've already buried all those memories."

Silence fell upon the two as the conversation had been dropped and long forgotten. The two sat quietly and awkwardly next to each other, trying to absorb what they had just learned about each other.

Paul was really deep into thought as he tried to think of who her father would be. Since he had been part of the assassins since the age of six, he would've known all the members of the team. He racked through his head for someone who could've been kidnapped by Team Magma.

As he tried to remember any newspaper articles about it, Dawn glanced nervously at him. Had she said too much? But on the other hand, he probably wasn't even part of the assassins during that time when her father was kidnapped, so what were the chances?

Then, something clicked in Paul's head as he remembered the conversation he had with Steven long ago. The light steel blue haired man had been worried and when asked what had happened, he responded back by saying that the top assassin had been kidnapped for having knowledge of them. It may had seem bad that he was telling a kid, but Steven was a nervous wreck at that time that he didn't even remember he told Paul.

_What was his name again?_ Paul thought furiously. Then he looked back at Dawn, who was back to looking down at the floor again. He studied her face, and although she was wearing make-up, he knew he had seen that type of face before.

Finally, he remembered. The man who had always played with Paul when he was alone while everyone else was on a mission. The man who treated Paul as his own, even though he wasn't married at that time. The man who learned of Paul's reason for being in the assassins. The man who protected Paul countless of times because he would always peeve off other Pokémon in the wild. The man who always had a smile on his face even Paul shunned him away at first. The man he cried for after many years of not doing so when he learned of his kidnapping and possible death. Yes, he knew this man alright.

"Richard Berlitz," he mumbled.

Dawn's ears perked upon hearing her father's name and looked at him, eyes widened to its full extent. Her heart started to beat fast as he stared at her, no emotions found in his eyes. Instinctively and discreetly, her hand reached for the dagger that was strapped onto her right knee. Luckily the pockets of her pants were fake and just for show. It was easily detachable should anyone of the bandits are in a tight situation and need to get to their weapon asap.

"You're one of t_hem,_" he spat coldly. "Dawn Berlitz."

This time, he didn't bother to be silent about it at all. If anything, it was as if he purposely said it to catch everyone's attention. And it worked.

May and Ash's breath hitched and May started to tremble. _Shit, this isn't good. _

Before anyone else could say anything, the bandits swiftly fled to one side of the room, with their daggers in hand near the window should it become necessary to leave. Hopefully Leaf would be joining them soon.

"What's going on?" Misty inquired shakily as she looked cautiously at Ash, who was looking away shamefully.

Drew and Paul narrowed their eyes at the bandits while May matched it with hers along with Ash, who caught the dirty looks they were receiving.

"They're the bandits we're supposed to kill," Paul answered easily.

As he said those words, Misty held her breath. She couldn't believe it. No, she just didn't want to believe that the sweet guy she grew to like was her enemy.

"Wait, aren't we actually friends now that we know for sure that we didn't steal the stupid claw?" May defended.

"Maybe, if it weren't for the fact that you pathetic bandits are trying to steal our Red Orb to awaken the legendary Groudon and take over the lands," Drew retorted, throwing in a glare that sent shivers down her spine.

"That's only because you tried steal our Blue Orb to awaken Kyogre," Dawn retorted back, her tone matching Drew's.

She realized that yes, it was her fault that they were found out, but she's not going to hang on to that because that would only distract in her fighting style. Besides, her teammates would forgive her anyway since it was an honest mistake.

"We weren't going to do that," Paul defended.

"Wait," Misty interjected. "Didn't Steven say that they were trying to awaken Kyogre, so we had to get it in order to stop them?"

"And didn't Lucy say that the assassins were trying to awaken Groudon with the Red Orb?" Ash added.

"Which wasn't true," both teams said in unison.

It was then that they realized what had happened. Both sides exchanged glances and each debated in their minds whether or not they should trust each other.

It wasn't fun and games anymore. This was life or death.

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><p>After Leaf had talked with Gary, she had decided to go back to sleep to get some more rest. It was mostly Gary's fault though for insisting that she rested.<p>

It wasn't long before she was awoken by loud chatter, which she found strange since they were in the weather institute. She had heard that it was quite silent since they always did research.

As she started to finally wake up and see things clearly, she straightened up and stretched, only to be met with Gary, who had just returned from who knows where since she's been asleep.

"What's going on?" the brunette inquired. "It got really loud."

Instead of saying anything, Gary only stared at Leaf, who peered curiously at him. The look on his face didn't give away anything too, so it was a lot harder for her to tell what was in his mind. And it bothered her that she couldn't figure it out.

"You're her," he whispered. "You're my Leaf Green, my childhood best friend."

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><p><strong>WHAAAAAT?! <strong>

**LOL, YEAH, HOW'S THAT FOR SOMEONE WHO HASN'T WRITTEN IN LIKE MONTHS?! NOT BAD RIGHT?! Haha, I actually worked really hard on this chapter, so I really hope you all loved it! C: Hopefully I'll update soon! **

**Anyway, so just recently, there's an author on this site, x-yourstruly-xo, who completely plagiarized my story, Repairing the Past. I've talked to her already, along with a few authors too, but she refused to take it down. Now, I'm already tempted to take down my story completely so she can't copy and paste it anymore, but I refrained myself from doing so because I know how much you guys love it. So if it isn't too much trouble, can you guys please help out a fellow author and help me talk some sense to this girl? She's completely ignoring the PM's I'm sending her. **

**Sigh, so anyway, away from all that drama shit, review and tell me how this chapter was! Hopefully it was to your liking (: **

**See you guys soon! **


	10. The Leave

**Yeah, my inspiration for this story is back and I'm ready to start updating this normally again. Hopefully I'll be finished with it by the end of summer c: **

**Anyway, enjoy this new chapter!**

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Nine-The Leave<strong>_

Leaf couldn't do anything but just stare at the male assassin in front of her. When he had mentioned her name, her heart skipped a beat and was relieved again when he said that she was his best friend. She just met the guy for Arceus sake.

"What are you talking about?" she croaked out nervously.

"Leaf Green, my childhood best friend," he repeated as he took a step closer to her from the door. This resulted in her taking a step back.

Leaf attempted a fake laugh before saying, "I think I would remember you if we were best friends before."

Gary shook his head. "I don't believe you," he said. "It's not a coincidence that your name is Leaf Green and you don't know me. There's only one Leaf Green and it's you."

The brunette merely stared at him in disbelief. How he had been able to figure out her identity was a beyond her knowledge, but the fact that he's saying that they knew each other was just unbelievable. There was no way she would've known him. So how is she supposed to approach him now? Tell him straight out that she was in fact Leaf Green and confirm that she was a bandit?

Well, he already figured it out anyway, so there probably shouldn't be a point in lying.

Leaf sighed upon her decision she had just made. She, one of the top bandits out there, was just going to give in like to an assassin who was demanding answers from her. She had really downgraded herself to be able to do something like listen to him. But what was she to do? He's already asked and if she avoided the question, it would only lead him to think that he was correct.

"My name's Leaf Green," she confirmed. "But I'm not the childhood friend you're looking for. I'm sorry."

"But you look just like her," he murmured disappointedly.

Upon seeing his crestfallen reaction, the brunette felt a pang of guilt hit her. She really would've admitted that she knew him if she had met him before, but she really didn't know him.

"So you mean to tell me that we're just plain enemies?" Gary inquired silently. "That you're really not the girl I know?"

Leaf nodded. "Well, technically, we're not enemies since we established the fact that the claw wasn't stolen by us bandits," she defended.

From behind, Gary held out three throwing stars in each hand. His crestfallen face had fallen and he was once again the cold assassin he used to be. His green eyes went back to having no emotions and he was starting to take his aim at the brunette.

Seeing that he was ready to aim the stars at her, Leaf quickly and expertly pulled out her dagger and stood in fighting position, ready to fight him. To make sure she would be safer, her free hand instinctively went to her belt, which held her six team members.

"Wait," Leaf started before he was going to throw them. "Why don't we talk this over?"

"I can't disobey Steven's orders," he informed coldly. "I don't care if you guys didn't steal that stupid claw long ago. What matters now is that we must stop you guys from awaking Kyogre and the only way is to kill you and your teammates."

Leaf frowned upon hearing this. They were going to awaken Kyogre? When was this? Why hasn't Lucy ever informed her or anyone else on the team? They were the top team, after all.

"What are you talking about?" she retorted, confused. "We're not trying to do anything like that! In fact, it's _you guys _who intend to awaken Groudon. We were sent to murder your team and take the Red Orb to prevent the plan from succeeding."

Gary let out a bitter laugh before reaching for one of his poke-balls. He _knew _the bandits would try to squirm their way out of it. It was their specialty after all; to lie, to steal, and to kill when it was necessary. He saw right through her.

"I'm serious, Oak," Leaf hissed. "Believe what you want, but I'm being honest here. We're not the ones who are at wrong here, and something tells me that you guys aren't doing what we think you're doing. Otherwise it would've been mentioned while we were still over there."

Gary was slightly taken aback and slowly retrieved his hand from his belt. She knew he was he enemy, yet she still believed him? If this was a new method the bandits had learned, well, it was new and he wouldn't have mind learning a new trick up their sleeves.

When she saw that he was retrieving his hand from his team ready to attack, Leaf sighed of relief and retracted her hand as well. She didn't understood why, but she had a tugging feeling that he was telling the truth, so she had no choice but let her guard down, just slightly to see what she could learn. If she found any flaw in what he told her, then she would have no problem slicing his neck.

"And I know that as much as you guys don't want to, we have to work together to find out who stole the Timeless claw," she informed hesitantly. "It may sound far-fetched b-"

"How do you expect us to work together?!" he interjected angrily. "How can you even offer something like that in the first place? You of all people should understand the rivalry between us and you guys, yet you're trying to pull this idea off? Our trust in each other is so low that we can't even let our guard down. Just standing and talking to you right now instead of fighting makes me wary that you'll attack out of nowhere!"

Leaf just stared at him. She understood him alright. In fact, that's how she felt at that moment. Although the brunette was looking at him, she also kept check of his movements in case he decided to surprise attack her.

But she didn't want to do anything rash yet. Not when he could possibly be the boy in her dreams; especially when he had told her his history with the girl. It connected with her dreams… So she had to buy herself some time. And what better way than to solve the mystery of the stolen claw? She released the breath she didn't realize she was holding and looked at him in the eyes. She couldn't believe she was doing this, but she had to.

Without a second thought, she dropped her dagger and kicked it to Gary before putting her arms up to show that she wasn't intending on pulling a tricky stunt on him.

"Does this make you feel more at ease now?"

Slowly and cautiously, Gary let the stars down and put them back to where they were originally before sitting down again on the spot he had been on. Leaf on the other hand had decided to just stand, which he noticed and chuckled.

"You can sit, you know," he said. "I won't bite."

The brunette let out a nervous chuckle before taking a seat across from him. When she sat down, she remembered something that got her into this dilemma.

"How did you figure it out?"

Gary wasn't surprised at this at all. He saw it coming.

"Well, I was heading back to where the gang was. Right before I was able to enter, I heard a small piece of conversation. Paul was angry, I suppose, and I believe it was him who announced that you guys were bandits," he explained. "So I came back here, thinking you were my best friend, since your name was Leaf Green and you were one of our targets."

"Ah, I see."

Silence befell the two and Leaf just stared at the table that was in front of her while Gary's fingers were drumming against it as he just looked at anything but the girl in front of him. Although they had just somewhat called a truce, they didn't trust each other completely just yet.

"So…" Leaf trailed off. "How 'bout that deal on us working together to find out who stole the claw?"

Gary shrugged and cracked a small smile. At least she stayed true to her words when she said she wanted to do that. But, it could be a set up…

"It's not my position to agree on something like this," he murmured. "What we need to do is contact both our leaders and let them know."

Leaf nodded. "Yeah, I agree." Then she stood up. "But first, we need to let our team know before they rip each other's heads off."

When she got to the door, she heard Gary whistle at her, only to be able to expertly catch the flying dagger that was thrown at her.

"Don't forget your weapon," he causally said as he brushed past her, though she could've sworn she heard a hind of amusement in his tone.

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><p>"How do we know you're not lying?" May spat in disgust as the assassins denied that they were going to awaken Groudon.<p>

Drew let out an exasperated sigh and felt tempted to just kill her on the spot. He opened his mouth to retort, but Misty beat him to it.

"Because," she started. "If we were planning to do it, then the plan would've been mentioned. That didn't happen, now did it?"

"And what if you're just keeping it a secret from everyone else?" Dawn shot back.

"As if your story is believable," Paul retorted, glare fixed on her.

"Hey," May quickly interjected. "You can believe what you want, but we're the ones who are only trying to stop anything from happening."

Drew snorted. "And your only way is by killing us? That sounds logical."

Ash let out a frustrated growl. He hated to do something as hasty as this but the fact that they were discovered just pushed him off the edge.

"Guys, we have to get Leaf and get away. So, Pikachu, Thunderbolt all three of them!" he cried.

"Protect, Leafeon!"

Immediately after the bolts of lightning were shot, a green wall stood in front of the assassins and all heads were shot to the source of the voice. Upon seeing who it was, both teams' eyes widened in shock as the brunette stood at the door, eyes as fiery as ever. Next to her was Gary, who had a same expression as her.

"Leaf…" May trailed off, confused as to why she would do something like that. "What are you doing?! They're our enemies."

"We can't kill each other yet!" she shouted back. "We first have to find the person who stole the Timeless claw. If that's the reason why we're enemies in the first place, then we can't just stand by and watch the rivalry continue when we can mend that relationship again. We're the strongest out there and probably the only ones capable to doing this."

Gary placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and nodded in agreement with her to the gang.

"I'm sure you all established the fact that neither of us are trying to awaken the two beasts," he piped up, which was followed by nods from everyone else. "Have any of you guys stopped to think how this was possible if both orbs were stolen?"

Upon hearing this, both parties looked down at the floor, ashamed of just jumping to conclusions so quickly. They both knew the opposing party was telling the truth. They were both just too prideful to admit that they were wrong.

"So the information given must have been false," Dawn mumbled.

Leaf nodded in confirmation.

"And whoever that did that, must be the same person after the orb because he or she knew that we would be too busy trying to kill each other to pay attention to either orbs," she stated as if she had always known the fact.

"Which would result in he or she to easily access through the systems to defeat the weaker ones protecting the orbs and stealing it right after," Drew finished as the realization suddenly hit him.

"And we think that person has some type of connection to the Timeless claw," Gary added.

The room became silent for a while after that. Both parties thought over what they had just heard and after hearing it, they had a feeling that what they had just learned was true. They knew they would have to work together without ripping their heads off in order to get to the bottom of it. But that would require trust on each other.

Finally, the silence was broken when Misty let out a tired sigh.

"I'm willing to work together if that means mending the relationship between bandits and assassins again," she said hesitantly.

"Me too," Ash piped before flashing a grin towards Misty, meaning he's willing to trust her choice of wanting to work together as well as nodding towards Leaf, who grinned in return.

"Well, you can count me out," Drew rejected as he started to head for the door, only to be blocked by Gary and Leaf.

"If you could trust "Alice" before or like "Michelle" enough to talk to her, why can't you accept us now?" Leaf interrogated.

"We're still the same people," May added.

Upon hearing this, the green headed assassin threw a glare back at May. This time, his glare was different. Rather than being its usual feel it gave, his eyes were cold and hollow, sending shivers down May's spine.

"Really?" he asked. "The same people, you say?" He let out a bitter laugh. "Last time I checked, you were the bandits and we were the assassins. We're enemies. It's not the same, _May_," he spat viciously. "You may think that person is the "same" but the minute you turn your back, they stab you."

"So you're saying that we're just going to betray you guys?" Dawn questioned as her brows furrowed.

"It's true," Paul answered, a cold glare fixed on her. "You bandits are nothing but cunning liars who would go the distance to get what you want. You're all treacherous snakes."

With that, both Paul and Drew decided to leave the room by shoving both Leaf and Gary out of their way.

"If you both leave, then you're out of the team," Misty called angrily at them. "And I won't want you two back."

Without saying a word, they both waved a hand each to indicate they didn't care.

As they left, Leaf shifted her attention to Gary, who was looking at Misty, causing her to look that way as well. Though she didn't show it, they knew that she really wanted both Paul and Drew to stay. They were after all teammates.

Soon, she let out another sigh and turned to the remaining people left.

"We don't need them," she announced. "We can do it without them."

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><p>…<strong>So yeah. That's it. LOL. <strong>

**I'll try to update soon, but until then, please review and let me know how you felt about the chapter! I accept long reviews. Just saying. And if you haven't yet, please check out my recent update Demon's Flower and review that as well por favor c:**


	11. Searching

_**Chapter Ten-Searching**_

"Hey, Lucy," Leaf greeted as her boss appeared on the screen of her communicator.

The older woman looked at Leaf with surprise. "Leaf, what's wrong? Aren't you and your team supposed to be on your mission?"

After Drew and Paul had left the group, they had discussed it and decided to call Lucy and Steven respectively to let them in on their recent discovery of the Timeless Claw. Though Dawn wasn't too fond of the idea because she was sure they weren't going to be pleased to hear such news, she was outvoted.

"We're calling it off," May answered from the right of Leaf. "And before you freak out, there's a reason why we're calling it off."

So from there, they started from the beginning to end of what happened. They explained how they found it, how it had worked, how they had been discovered, everything. Throughout the story, Lucy's face changed from curious, to bewilderment, and to disapproving, her current expression.

"How are you all so sure that it's the real claw, to begin with?" she questioned. "What if it was all a set-up from those assassins to make you believe it's real so your guards would be down long enough for them to attack you? How is there any proof that they won't attack you guys when you're not looking?"

"But I was the one who found it," Ash commented. "How would they have put it there if I didn't see anyone put it there? Besides, at that time that we found it, they didn't know our identities yet. It was just recently that they found out."

The older bandit looked at the group in front of her. They all had a look in their eyes that told her that they trusted the assassins completely. They all had determination on their faces and it was as if they knew they were going to live. Lucy didn't know what else to say. She had tried to think of the worst case scenario, but from what they had told her, there was no way that was a set-up.

"Okay, fine," she finally said with a defeated sigh. "You guys win. As of now, the assassination mission will be called off; but be careful, alright? I don't want to see anyone reporting that one of you guys are dead, am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," they all chorused together.

And with that, she was gone, along with the bright screen of the communicator.

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><p>"Are you two sure these bandits are to be trusted?" Steven asked for what seemed to be the thousandth time.<p>

Misty and Gary rolled their eyes. "Yes, Steven, they are to be trusted. Leaf, one of the members, was the one who came up with the plan and was even willing to give up her weapons to me," Gary informed. "I didn't want to trust her either, but there was something persuading about her tone that made me want to believe her."

"Have you forgotten, Auburn, that's their specialty? They're known for being conniving and they would go to lengths in order to get what they want. Don't be a fool, Auburn. Don't forget what you are. You're an assassin; a cold heartless assassin."

At that, Gary grinded his teeth together. He desperately wanted to go on with the plan because he wanted to see if that was really Leaf. And that meant that he had to get his leader to go along with it. The problem was that he held a huge grudge against the bandits and would find any way to get them out from going on with the plan.

"Look, Leaf and I came up with the idea," Gary started. "That means there are no other plans in store for us. We both explained it to Aqua and she had agreed with it too."

The orange-headed assassin nodded in response. "The plan seems like it could work," she inputted. "Right now, both teams have lost their respective orbs and that's because the thieves believe that the strongest members are out trying to kill each other. Though that is true, we can still change that. They may think that we're still trying to murder each other, but while they think that, we can find out who they are and attack."

"Besides, they can't summon the legendary Groudon and Kyogre without the proper instruments," Gary added cockily, a complete change from his mood just moments ago. "As long as we stop them in time, the people of Hoenn will be safe."

The room was quiet for some time as Steven thought about the plan. It wasn't as if it was a bad plan. It was a pretty good plan, if he had to say so himself. His only problem was the bandits.

"And you're sure they won't betray you guys?" he asked one last time.

Misty and Gary exchanged a look and nodded at each other. They knew that they were walking on thin water here, but if it included saving the world from evil, they'd risk their lives.

The silver-headed man sighed. "Alright, then be safe. I'll be sure to keep an out for Forest and Shadow. Once they return, they'll get assigned a different mission. Remember, return safely, okay? I don't want to replace my number one team with morons."

And with that, his face was gone from the screen of the PC.

* * *

><p>Once the PC screen was gone blank, the bandits arrived into the room the assassins were in. It was strange, they thought. No one in the Weather Institute seemed to spare them a second glance. They seemed to be too busy with their work to mind the group of the teenagers walking their halls.<p>

"So how did it go?" Dawn asked the other two when they arrived.

The bandits had taken the liberty to take a seat on the couch set up on the other side of the room as the two assassins made their way over to them.

"He really doesn't like the idea," Misty answered with a tired sigh. "He believes that this is all a trick to kill us."

"What does he have against us?" Leaf inquired, arms crossed at her chest. "I mean, if he doesn't trust us like how Lucy trusts you guys, then there must be something that's happened to him to not like us."

"We'd tell you, but it's not in our position to do that," Gary responded. "All we can tell you is that he's had bad experiences with them."

The room fell into silence right afterwards as they tried to think of what to do next. They'd agreed to tell their leaders that they were calling off the mission, but they had yet to discuss what to do afterwards. It was still pouring outside, and they didn't know what else to do with the claw since there was so little information about it.

"Should we do more investigating?" May piped. "Though it's still raining, I think it'd be better than just sitting here doing nothing."

After a couple of minutes of discussion, they had decided to leave the institute and investigate. Like May had said, it was surely better than staying indoors and doing nothing.

Once they were outside, Ash led the way to the place where he had found the claw. From the slope of the hill they stood on, Leaf estimated the height of it and decided that they'd need their Pokémon's help to get down there, which was what they did.

With the help of their team, the six of them reached down safely and was now looking for any trace of recent visit, which wasn't so easy considering how heavy the rain fell.

May and Dawn were searching the area for any footprints, while Ash and Misty were examining the spot of the claw, trying to figure out how it had gotten here. Lastly, Leaf and Gary were looking for any trace of a hideout.

The brunette had decided to wander away from the assassin, partly because she wanted to see if there was anything behind the waterfall, and also because she felt awkward around him ever since she found out that the boy in her dreams could possibly be him.

The waterfall wasn't anything she hadn't seen before. From all her missions, she had learned that most waterfalls had a secret base behind it due to the space it left, and this was no different. Though the pathway behind the waterfall was narrower than the other ones she'd been to, it wasn't difficult for her to maneuver through.

Once there, she had begun to search for any switches that could trigger the secret door, but with no such luck.

"Having a little trouble there, Green?"

She turned and met the auburn teen she had so badly wanted to avoid. Up close, he wasn't so bad looking, she thought. If it weren't for the mission, she'd probably start flirting with him.

"Just a little," she replied dryly. "As cliché as it may be, I believe that there's a secret base behind it. All the evil villains have it behind a waterfall."

At that, Gary chuckled and shook his head before walking up to help her. "I believe you have watched way too many movies. Are you sure you're a top bandit?"

She shrugged and stuck her tongue out at him. "Whatever, just press against spot and maybe a secret door will open up," she ordered.

He rolled his eyes, but complied nonetheless.

* * *

><p>"How are we supposed to find footprints?" Dawn complained as she tried to move her bangs away from her eyes. "It's pouring out here! There's no way in hell are we ever going to find anything!"<p>

May sighed and rolled her eyes. "Dawn, it doesn't matter. There should still be some sort of evidence. If anything, we'll just go back and help the others if we don't find anything."

The bluenette sighed in frustration but agreed to the idea, nonetheless. She hated that her clothes were stuck on her body like glue, but she had no choice but to leave the place with what she was wearing. Besides, she was a trained bandit who had to go through rigorous training, and that involved being in the rain.

After searching around at their designated spot, the two bandits meandered off farther away from the group and only realized it when May almost slipped into the water, thanks to the wet grass.

"Are you okay, May?"

The brunette smiled sheepishly and nodded. "I'm fine, Dawn." She paused and looked around, spotting the group at least a mile away. "Where are we?"

"I'm assuming, not far from the group," Dawn guessed. "Whatever, maybe there would be something here that will help us."

From there, the two girls started to look around. As the rain kept pouring down, it made it harder to look for any evidence. No matter how much they tried, the rain wasn't helping in the case, which resulted in Dawn to accidently slip this time. Luckily, she was next to the slope and pulled on a piece of loose rock to keep her balance.

May, who noticed, rushed over to her teammate to check if she was alright, unaware of the groaning noise that rang through the place.

"Dawn, you have to watch where you're going or you're really going to hurt yourself."

Dawn turned to May to reply back when something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Turning her full attention to her left, Dawn let out a gasp as she stared at the slope that had been there just moments ago. May looked at where she was looking, and stared in shock. How it had gotten there had surprised her as well.

The rocky place mountain had been gone and was now replaced with a cave. It was dark, and due to the rain, it made it look as if it was just a mirage.

"May, get the rest. I need to stay to make sure it's still here when they're here."

Silently, the brunette complied and sprinted to get everyone else.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean you approve of them calling off the mission?!" Drew snapped.<p>

He and Paul had recently arrived back to Rustburo, only to find out that their leader had approved of such an action. Wasn't Steven the one who despised bandits the most? Why was he actually allowing the mission to be canceled?

Steven sighed and leaned back to his chair. "What part of that didn't you understand, Forest? They told me their plan and it seems like it could actually work. Besides, if the Timeless Claw really was stolen from someone who wasn't a bandit, we can actually mend the broken relationship."

"I thought you didn't like the bandits because of what they did to your family," Paul stated from the chair next to Drew. "Why the sudden change in heart?"

Upon hearing this, the silver-headed assassin casted him a glare before saying, "I don't think this is any of your business, _Shadow_. Bottom line is, the mission is called off and you two are to train the new recruits that came in this morning."

There was a loud slam that rang through the room, and the source of it all was Drew. He had slammed his two hands onto the table and was currently having a glaring competition with Steven, who didn't seemed fazed at all.

"Do you think this is a joke? Those bandits could be planning to kill Aqua and Auburn and you're just going to let them?! I don't care if there's a plan, it could all be a set-up! Aren't you supposed to stop them from doing something stupid that could potentially get them killed?! Just what kind of leader are you!?"

Drew had lost it. The fact that their high-esteemed leader could easily let the two of them do something as risky as this had really snapped him. He had always looked up to Steven from all the obstacles he had to jump through, along with the fool-proof plans he always had. But this…this was definitely not the leader who had taught him to be ruthless.

"Forest—" Paul started.

Before he was able to finish what he had planned to say, something had stopped him. In front of him, just three feet away, was their calm leader, holding Drew's arms back, and a throwing star in hand, near the green-headed assassin's throat.

"You wanted to know where that leader is? Well, this leader is over here," he whispered deadly. "I'll teach you how to be really ruthless."

* * *

><p><strong>WOOOO, I FINALLY UPDATED AND LEFT YOU GUYS WITH A TERRIBLE CHAPTER. <strong>

**Yeah, I'm like really rusty, but I really I hope you won't hold it against me. **

**Anyway, review and let me know how it was! :3 I'll talk to you guys soon!**


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